Dr. Ramiro Matos, Curator, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

Tipon is basically water management, water engineering.

It’s a cult of water. The water flow allows one to see what they called paqcha, or running water.

So this is an experimental center, but at the same time it is a ceremonial center, a great religious center for the worship of water.

And so we have Intihuatana at the top; and at the bottom, a large building, open as a ritual kallanka, for ritual services.

This terracing extends to the middle part of the hillside, and then the rest of the water flows to a natural ravine, which distributes it to the entire valley.