Huayuri

Huayuri, also called the Lost City of Huayuri, is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site which flourished from 1150 to 1450 CE in the Late Intermediate Period (1000 - 1476 CE) of Peru. Huayuri is located in the Peruvian coastal desert in Ica Region. Its prominence was probably dependent upon an climatic phase in which the area received greater precipitation than at earlier and later periods. The site may have been abandoned in the 16th century because of water shortages, conflict with the expanding Inca Empire, or epidemics of European diseases. The town (or city) of stone houses was located in a ravine between two mountain ridges, a location possibly dictated by a need for defense. Archaeological evidence indicates Huayari relied upon rainfall harvesting for its drinking water and some of the irrigated agriculture the town needed for the subsistence of the inhabitants.