Since it first came onto the radar of researchers in the 1930s, Monte Sierpe has been a mystery. The site, in the Pisco valley of southern Peru, stretches for nearly a mile and features over 5,000 precisely positioned holes dug into a mountainside.
A team of international researchers, including USF Herbarium curator Dr. Chris Kiahtipes and CAS professor Charles Stanish, has finally posited an explanation for the site that makes a bit more sense than the “aliens” theory some have floated: the holes may have been an ancient accounting system.
Recently published in the journal Antiquity, the researchers used drone mapping and sediment analysis, among other tools, to come to their conclusion. Sediment analysis has been very impactful in telling the stories of sites and USF Herbarium curator, Dr. Christopher Kiahtipes, an environmental archaeologist, happens to be an expert.
“My part in the project was the analysis of the soil samples for plant remains,” Dr. Kiahtipes explains. “We found pollen from wetland plants like cattails and economic plants like maize. This is a really dry area of Peru where we’re unlikely to find these plants, so these clues are a crucial piece of evidence for the transport of goods to this remarkable location and its potential use as an accounting device.”
Read an overview of the research here.