Archaeologists Unearth 500-Year-Old Inca Potatoes in Peru, Revealing Long-Distance Food Network
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jun 29
Archaeologists Unearth 500-Year-Old Inca Potatoes in Peru, Revealing Long-Distance Food Network
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 29
Summary
Two freeze-dried potatoes known as chuño were uncovered at Peru’s Tambo Viejo site, with researchers saying the roughly 500-year-old finds remain in excellent condition.
Lidio Valdez, who led the excavation, said the preservation helps show how the Inca stored staple food for long periods and moved it across the empire.
Because chuño could only be made at high elevations, the potatoes were likely kept in state-run warehouses and later transported by llama caravans to feed laborers on imperial projects.
The potatoes were found in ceramic vessels buried underground at Tambo Viejo, an Inca administrative center excavated on and off since 2018 that has produced several unprecedented finds.
Published in the Journal of Field Archaeology, the discovery adds to recent food-preservation finds from ancient sites including Pompeii and a 2,000-year-old Roman bread loaf in Switzerland.