Prague - A Czech scientific expedition has claimed to have found in the Andes mountains of Bolivia the ruins of an Inca city at the highest altitude recorded to date, according to the Czech expert who led the research team.
Consisting of several sites, the Inca settlement near Lake Titicaca extended for about 10 square kilometres at an altitude between 3 000m and 4 000m, said Ivo Bartecek, a Czech specialist in Ibero-American studies.
"Up higher, there are only glaciers," said Bartecek, who is also head of the philosophy faculty at the University of Olomouc in the eastern Czech Republic.
The expedition of two Czech scientists and two researchers spent three weeks during the South American winter exploring the region.
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The team's main goal was to prove the hypothesis that Inca and pre-Inca civilisations existed in the highest possible regions of the Andean mountain range.
"It's here in the region around Lake Titicaca that the birthplace of South American cultures is found," said Bartecek, whose has participated in nine expeditions on Inca culture.
The Inca civilisation throughout South America ruled from the 13th century to the middle of the 16th century when the Spanish conquistadors arrived on the continent.
The researchers noted that the size of the Inca city, where the remains of 100 buildings are organised in an urban settlement along a square or circular plan, will shed new light on the culture dating back to the middle ages.
The Czech university researchers are currently analysing the photographic and video documentation collected at the site. - Sapa-AFP
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