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The precise age of the remote pre-Columbian ruins of Tantamayo is unknown. Its buildings appear to fit into the later TiaHuanuco-Huari phase, which would make them some 1200 years old, but physically they form no part of this widespread cultural movement and the site is considered to have developed separately, probably originating from tribes migrating to the Andes from the jungle and adapting to a new environment over a long period. At Tantamayo the architectural development of some four centuries can be clearly seen - growing from the simplest of structures to complex edifices. Tall buildings dot the entire area - some clearly watchtowers looking over the Maranon, others with less obvious functions, built for religious reasons as temple-palaces, perhaps, or as storehouses and fortresses. One of the major constructions, just across the Tantamayo stream on a hill facing the village, was named Pirira by the Incas who conquered the area in the fifteenth century. At its heart there are concentric circles of carved stone, while the walls and houses around are all grouped in a circular formation - clearly this was once an important centre for religious ritual. The main building rises some 10m on three levels, its bluff facade broken only by large window niches, changes in the course of the stone slabs, and by centuries of weathering. A detailed archeological survey of the ruins may well reveal links with Chavin and Kotosh. In the meantime, the thirty separate, massive constructions make an impressive scene, offset by the cloudforest and jungle flourishing along the banks of the Maranon just a little further to the north
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