To celebrate national Hispanic heritage month, let’s talk about the ancient Aymara peoples.
The waru waru system is one of the most amazing achievements of ancient Andean engineering. The Aymara peoples developed it over 2000 years ago near Lake Titicaca.
The Inca Empire knew of it but never adopted the technology. By the time the Spanish arrived, the fields were buried and nearly lost, though pilots could still see their geometric patterns from above.
Theories ranged from religious geoglyphs to astronomical markers and alien landing pads. It was not until the 1990s that researchers discovered they were a sophisticated form of climate engineering.
In Quechua and Aymara, waru waru refers to a raised agricultural bed surrounded by channels of water. The water absorbs heat by day and releases it at night, creating a microclimate that shields crops from frost.
The channels also drained excess rain and held moisture through droughts. Algae, sediment, and waste collected in them became fertilizer, and farmers grew potato, quinoa, and canihua.
These systems built the economic foundation for the Tiwanaku Empire, which flourished around 500 to 950 CE. Without them, the Tiwanaku city of up to 70,000 residents could not have been fed.
Today, the system is being revitalized. Indigenous farmers are restoring it to show that the tools to survive modern climate disruptions are sometimes already buried right under their feet.
If you want to learn more about indigenous history, join our growing substack community. We are still accepting new members to our tribe.
