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Story summary
- Monte Sierpe, a Peruvian Andes site, likely functioned as a pre-Inca marketplace before becoming an accounting system under Inca rule.
- Archaeologist Jacob Bongers and his team used drone mapping and soil analysis to study the site.
- They found maize pollen and hole-layout patterns resembling Inca khipus, suggesting the holes stored goods and facilitated trade.
- Bongers notes many questions remain about the site's unique purpose and significance in the Andes.
