“The Great Inca Road: A Prehistoric Highway Engineering Marvel” will be discussed by Kenneth Wright at the May 9 meeting of the San Juan Basin Archaeological Society at 7 p.m., at the Lyceum, Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College.
The talk will be preceded by a social at 6:30.
Since 1994, Wright, of the engineering firm Wright Water Engineers of Denver, has done extensive research on water works in Peru, at Machu Picchu, Tipon, Moray and Ollantaytambo and in the southwestern U.S., Mesa Verde National Park. His work on the Inca road system has earned Wright six academic awards from Peru universities, a decoration from Peru’s president and a joint honorary doctor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin, according to Janice C. Sheftel, president of the archaeological society.
The 24,000-mile Inca road system joins six countries from Chile to Ecuador and has moved people, goods and armies over deserts and mountain ranges. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Wright will describe the road and its engineering with an illustrated lecture that highlights the road’s sustainability and scenery. The road system included infrastructure such as drainage works, water supply fountains, bridges, guard houses, checkpoints, retaining walls and ceremonial buildings.
The Inca road is featured at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., an installation on which Wright consulted.
For more information, call 970-259-5845.