Saksaywaman, Peru

The fortress of Saksaywaman was built to protect the Inca's capital city, Cuzco. The Andesite stones here, as in Cuzco, were put together without mortar, and they are some of the largest ever used in pre-Columbian America.The igneous rock we call Andesite (not as light as rhyolite and not as dark as basalt) gets its name from the Andes. [2001]