Tambo Colorado is a well-preserved Inca adobe complex on the coast of Peru also know as Puka Tampu, Pucallacta or Pucahuasi.

  Tambo Colorado is located in the department of Ica, Peru

Tambo Colorado Survey

  TAMBO COLORADO - Torreón is on the left

  TAMBO COLORADO - Torreón.

  TAMBO COLORADO  - Torrón the point of total control of the complex

The Archeological Site Tambo Colorado was an administrative center of the Incas, located in the Upper Valley of the Pisco River.  It's located 265 kilómetros to the south of Lima, via the Panamerican Highway south, in the town of San Clemente.  It is where the Inca Road "Los Libertadores Huari" begins, and extends to the city of Ayacucho.

Tambo Colorado is a well-preserved Inca adobe complex on the coast of Peru also know as Puka Tampu, Pucallacta or Pucahuasi.  The site owes it name to the abundant use of colours on the walls (mainly red). Some original colours (red, white and yellow) can still be seen on some of the walls.

V\The site was most likely built at the end of the 15th century during the reign of the Inca king Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui also known as Pachacutec.

The site is comprised of several structures around a large central plaza. The central plaza is shaped like a trapezoid with its largest side being 150 m long. The main structures are grouped together in a northern part and a southern part (Sector Norte and Sector Sur).

Plan of Northern Palace, Tambo Colorado, cut from a laser scan. The Northern Palace sits on the north side of the Trapezoidal Plaza and forms a rhomboid (uneven square) with sides 57-59 m in length. It faces the valley and its back rises up the slope of a hill. The palace contains three courts (Rooms 1, 9, and 42), which succeed one another and decrease in size from front to back; most of the palace's rooms would have been roofed as well. 

TAMBO COLORADO

  TAMBO COLORADO
Inner courtyard with compounds on both sides (in this photo entry to the premises on the west side)

  TAMBO COLORADO
Individual Compounds

  TAMBO COLORADO
Individual Compounds

  TAMBO COLORADO - view of interior courtyard

  TAMBO COLORADO

  Area with ovens and windows

Possibly a stable?

  TAMBO COLORADO

  View of TAMBO COLORADO from the Torreón

  TAMBO COLORADO
Main inner courtyard with internal staircase in the middle

  TAMBO COLORADO
Main inner courtyard with internal staircase in the middle 

TAMBO COLORADO

  TAMBO COLORADO
Original paints preserved on the adobe walls

  TAMBO COLORADO

  TAMBO COLORADO

  TAMBO COLORADO

  TAMBO COLORADO

  Tambo Colorado - common baths

  An external oven?

  Bathing pool

  The Inca Cemetery of TAMBO COLORADO
Bones thrown about - the result of looting

  The Inca Cemetery of TAMBO COLORADO

  The Inca Cemetery of TAMBO COLORADO

  The Inca Cemetery of TAMBO COLORADO

 The Inca Cemetery of TAMBO COLORADO
Tombs damaged or destroyed by grave robbers

  The Inca Cemetery of TAMBO COLORADO

  The Inca Trail & TAMBO COLORADO
Constructed on the sides of the mountains

  The Inca Trail & TAMBO COLORADO
Following the shoulder of the mountain 

    The Inca Trail & TAMBO COLORADO
Some sections have dangerous drop-offs