I traveled to the Llanganates rainforest in Ecuador, searching for a stone structure that almost no one has ever seen. Blocks weighing over three tons, fitted together in the middle of nowhere. For some, it's a pyramid built by a lost civilization. For the Ecuadorian government, it's just a geological accident.

In January 2014, the INPC (National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Ecuador) inspected the site and concluded that it wasn't archaeological. But that report says something that almost no one mentions: it acknowledges that the surface has homogeneous cuts that give the impression of blocks crafted independently and intentionally placed.

I read it in its entirety, and in this video, I'll show you what it actually says, where its argument is solid, and where it's more debatable than it's made out to be.

I'll also tell you the story of the Barriga family, who found the site after a landslide and kept it a secret for over a decade. The Valverde Route and the treasure that Rumiñahui hid in these mountains, never to reveal it, not even under torture. And the legend of the giants that Pedro Cieza de León collected from the natives of the Ecuadorian coast in 1553.

A Peruvian deep in the Ecuadorian jungle, knee-deep in mud, searching for an answer that doesn't yet exist.

CHAPTERS
00:00 The Mystery of the Llanganates
00:05 Rumiñahui Hides the Treasure (Recreation)
00:50 The Pyramid in the Jungle (Recreation)
_:_ The Path: The Barriga Family
_:_ What the INPC Report Really Says
_:_ The Waterfall and the Geological Fault
_:_ The Geologist Who Disagrees
_:_ Atahualpa's Treasure and Valverde's Route
_:_ Cieza de León's Giants
_:_ Arrival at the Structure
_:_ Final Reflection

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SOURCES CONSULTED
Technical Report of the Interinstitutional Inspection of the "Muro de los Llanganates" Sector — INPC, January 2014
Manuel Palacios — Amerika Prohibida
Pedro Cieza de León — Crónica del Perú (1553), Chapter LII
Tamara Estupiñán — Tras las Huellas de Rumiñahui
Valverde's Route and map by Anastasio Guzmán (1805) — General Archive of the Indies, Seville
Official Llanganates National Park Fact Sheet

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If you've made it this far, let me know in the comments what you think: nature or human intervention? I read everything.

#Llanganates #Ecuador #Archaeology #EcuadorianArchaeology #EcuadorianJungle