Waru waru raised fields
Waru waru (camellones con canales)
- Date
- c. 1000 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Huatta, Puno, Peru
- Credited to
- Peoples of the altiplano (Pukara, Tiwanaku)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Raised cultivation platforms surrounded by channels whose water stores heat by day and protects crops from night frosts, as well as draining and fertilising. It enabled intensive agriculture on the puna.
The dates of initial construction are uncertain; the greatest extent corresponds to Tiwanaku (500-1000 CE).
What it led to
- the support of Tiwanaku on the altiplano
- experimental revival from 1981, with better yields than modern farming