Tipón
An Inca hydraulic masterpiece near Cusco: a captured spring feeds, by pure gravity, terraces and a four-jet fountain that still flows, clear, five centuries later.
- Location
- Peru · Americas
- Civilisation
- Inca
- Period
- ~1400–1500 AD (Inca)
- Technique
- Hydraulic engineering: gravity-fed canals, aqueduct, fountains and buried conduits
- Studies
- ASCE Historic Landmark
the state of research converges — open to revision. A revisable snapshot of the state of research, never a judgement.
→ Show on the mapThe elements of the site
Where the site is
13.567° S, 71.783° W · satellite view
What science says
A complete irrigation system (canals, aqueduct, buried conduits, tunnel) jointly exploiting surface and spring water; designated a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the ASCE.
The main fountain distributes water from a volcanic spring in four symmetrical falls; the canal gradients are calculated for a constant, controlled flow.
Attributed to the Inca Wiracocha as a royal estate and ceremonial center dedicated to water, a sacred element of the Andean worldview.
What remains unexplained
Related to
Studies & sources
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