Case file · Folklore / legend
Paititi, the lost Inca refuge
A report by the Jesuit Andrés López around 1600, found in the Jesuit archives in Rome by Mario Polia in 2001, describes a gold-rich city called Paititi in the forest east of Cuzco.
1600 CE · -12.60, -71.60 · status: legend
The account
Paititi became the Andean El Dorado. Expeditions into Madre de Dios and the Pantiacolla hills have continued for decades, some ending in disappearances.
The sceptical view
No lost city matching the legend has been found; sites announced as Paititi turned out to be smaller ruins or natural formations.
Connections in the atlas
- Gran Pajatén 'lost city'
- The 'pyramids' of Paratoari
- The Jesuit Paititi report
- Lidar finds the Casarabe towns