LiDAR Reveals 2.5km of Hidden Inca Roads Near the Mandor Wall at Machu Picchu

Peru's Ministry of Culture announced on August 10, 2026, the identification of more than 2.5 kilometers of previously undocumented pre-Hispanic roads in the cloud forest surrounding the Mandor wall on the eastern slopes of the Machu Picchu Archaeological Park, including a main road at least 1.2 kilometers long whose zigzagging layout is consistent with Inca construction technique, plus possible agricultural terraces and platforms requiring further study. The findings emerged from preliminary archaeological reconnaissance carried out in July 2026 by drone-mounted LiDAR and photogrammetry, conducted through scientific cooperation between the Center for Andean Studies at the University of Warsaw (led by Dr. Jan Kłaput, with remote-sensing specialist Dr. Bartłomiej Ćmielewski) and Peru's Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Cusco (with Dr. Nino del Solar Velarde coordinating Machu Picchu archaeological research). Machu Picchu — the high-altitude Inca royal estate built c.1450 under Pachacuti and never located by Spanish conquistadors — was abandoned after the conquest and rediscovered for the outside world only in 1911; the new LiDAR survey adds to a wave of remote-sensing work (following earlier UAV LiDAR surveys at the nearby Chachabamba complex) revealing that the road and terrace network supporting the Inca estate was significantly more extensive than previously mapped.