Researchers identified about 5,000 holes across Peru's Monte Sierpe ('Serpent Mountain') and found evidence suggesting the pits once held baskets of goods and may have been linked to the knotted-string accounting system known as khipus.
Notes on verification
Core facts (5,000 holes, evidence of basket/goods storage via pollen analysis) are well corroborated by multiple independent sources including the peer-reviewed Antiquity study. The khipu connection is presented by researchers as a hypothesis, and at least one outside expert called it 'tenuous,' so this specific link is less certain than the rest of the claim. [tier=silver indep_score=0.812 clusters=4 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- 6 archaeological discoveries that amazed the world in 2025 (seed:history_and_archaeology)
- https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2025/11/10/mysterious-holes-in-the-andes-may-have-been-an-ancient-marketplace-new-research-suggests.html (corroboration)
- https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/21/science/peru-band-of-holes-mystery (corroboration)
- https://theconversation.com/a-centuries-old-grid-of-holes-in-the-andes-may-have-been-a-spreadsheet-for-accounting-and-exchange-269277 (corroboration)
- https://www.sciencenews.org/article/peru-serpent-mountain-mystery-inca (corroboration)