Band of Holes – The Weird & Mysterious Site in Peru

The Mysterious Band of Holes in Peru

The Band of Holes, about 5,500 man-sized holes can be found while on a trip to Peru‘s Pisco Valley on the Nazca Plateau. Also known as Monte Sierpe or Cerro Viruela, the local people & Archeologists have no idea about how these holes were formed. Read now to explore facts, timeline, and more information about the famous Band of Holes.

Theories behind the Band of Holes

While experts have given a few theories behind the formation of Band of Holes Peru, it is still not clear as to why exactly they exist. Over the years,  it has been suggested that these mysterious holes were graves, war defensive positions, storage places, or even that they are of extraterrestrial origin. Recently they have been thought of as storage pits built during the time of the Inca Empire from 1438 to 1533.

Band of Holes Facts

There is no real reasoning for the design of the holes. The holes are almost 1 meter in diameter and range between the depth of 50-100 cm. Their width ranges from 14-21 meters. Starting at the edge of a valley and continuing up a hill for 1 mile, the band of holes extends in a north-south orientation over a very uneven rocky surface.

Band of Holes Timeline

• In 1933, Band of Holes was first brought to the light by an aviator named Robert Shippee who published a photograph in National Geographic.
• Victor Wolfgang von Hagen inspected the site in 1953. He described the holes as pre-Inca graves,
• in his book The Royal Road of the Inca, thus compounding the mystery.
• Frederic Engel and Dwight Wallace visited the site in the ’70s. In his book The Inca Road System, John Hyslop writes “They are between two important Inca sites, and very near the point where the Inca coastal road crosses the road to the highlands. They might be one of the empire’s larger storage sites.”
• In 2015, Archaeologists from UCLA made a visit to the site. They used drones to create a very detailed map of the holes. They speculate that the holes may have been a method of measuring Incan produce.

The archaeologists plan on doing further investigations by taking soil and rock samples from the Band of Holes site. They will also be studying if the band of holes has any relationship to the Nazca lines. There is still no answer as to what these holes exactly are and why they formed. The Incan’s were excellent engineers and Masons as proven by Machu Picchu and now this mysterious discovery!

Love Staying Up-To-Date With All The Latest South American News? Visit Our Blog!