The complex was built by the Inca in the 15th century, particularly under Pachacuti and successors. They built dry stone walls constructed of huge stones. The workers carefully cut the boulders to fit them together tightly without mortar. The site is at an altitude of 3,701 m (12,142 ft). In 1983, Cusco and Sacsayhuaman together were designated as sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List, for international recognition and protection. Located on a steep hill that overlooks the city, the fortified complex has a wide view of the valley to the southeast. Archeological studies of surface collections of pottery at Sacsayhuaman indicate that the earliest occupation of the hilltop dates to about 900 CE. During the 15th century, the Imperial Inca expanded on this settlement, building dry stone walls constructed of huge stones. Spanish Chronicler Pedro Cieza De Leon wrote in 1553: "The Fortress had been begun in the days of Pachacuti; his son Topa Inca and Huayna Capac and Huascar [d. 1532] added greatly to it." Cieza writes of the construction that Pachacuti "ordered 20,000 men sent in from the proviences" and that "4000 of them quarried and cut the stones; 6000 hauled them with great cables of leather and hemp; the others dug the dig and laid the foundations, while still others cut poles and beams for the timbers." After ambushing Atahualpa during the Spanish Conquest of Peru, Francisco Pizarro sent Martin Bueno and two other Spaniards to help transport gold and silver from the Temple of Korikancha in Cusco to Cajamarca, where the Spaniards were based. They found the Temple of the Sun "covered with plates of gold", which the Spanish supposedly ordered removed as payment for Atahualpa's ransom. Seven hundred plates were removed, and added to two hundred cargas of gold transported back to Cajamarca. The best-known zone of Sacsayhuaman includes its great plaza and its adjacent three massive terrace walls. The stones used in the construction of these terraces are among the largest used in any building in pre-Hispanic America. They display a precision of cutting and fitting that is unmatched in the Americas. The stones are so closely spaced that a single piece of paper will not fit between many of the stones. This precision, combined with the rounded corners of the blocks, the variety of their interlocking shapes, and the way the walls lean inward, is thought to have helped the ruins survive devastating earthquakes in Cuzco. The longest of the three walls is about 400 meters. They are about 6 meters tall. The estimated volume of stone is over 6,000 cubic meters. Estimates for the weight of the largest andesite block vary from 128 tonnes to almost 200 tonnes. Following the siege of Cusco, the Spaniards began to use Sacsayhuaman as a source of stones for building Spanish Cuzco; within a few years, they had taken apart and demolished much of the complex. The site was destroyed block by block to salvage materials with which to build the new Spanish governmental and religious buildings of the colonial city, as well as the houses of the wealthiest Spaniards. Today, only the stones that were too large to be easily moved remain at the site. On 13 March 2008, archaeologists discovered additional ruins at the periphery of Sacsayhuaman. It has been theorized that the site was first built upon during the Killke period, which preceded the Inca. While appearing to be ceremonial in nature, the exact function remains unknown.
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