[blam]

That is raised bed, irrigation farming. It is to cold to grow food there without raising the beds, the irrigation water acquires heat in the daytime and warms the beds during the colder nights.

This farming was probably done by these people:

2004: Top (Archaeological) Finds On Bolivian Highlands

[djf]

I find it hard to believe that all this was functional and productive a mere 500-1000 years ago.

Some of the images show erosions and waterways that would have taken longer than that.

The size of it - the vastness - and what would cause these people to decide “Hey, we’re tired of living next to the ocean with all the fish and stuff, let’s go THIRTEEN THOUSAND FEET UP into the mountains and try to grow coconuts?

I mean something about this simply doesn’t fit the standard archeological and cultural and migrational considerations that have been offered.

[1010RD]

Do the shapes of the irrigation pools follow the natural contours of the land or do they have another possibly symbolic purpose?