Amunas: water sowing and harvesting
Amunas: siembra y cosecha de agua
- Date
- c. 600 CE · confidence medium
- Place
- Huamantanga, Canta, Lima, Peru
- Credited to
- Peoples of the Lima highlands (Wari period or earlier)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Channels that divert rainwater onto permeable hillsides so it infiltrates and reappears months later in springs, prolonging the flow into the dry season. It is an aquifer-recharge technique more than a thousand years old.
The pre-Hispanic dating rests on the association with settlements; Ochoa-Tocachi et al. (2019) measured their hydrological effect.
What it led to
- seasonal water regulation in Andean watersheds
- 'natural infrastructure' projects to supply Lima (21st century)