Madeira Fortress

Madeira Fortress is an archeological site of unknown origin located far away from human settlements in Rondonia, (Brazil).
Location and description
It is located at coordinates Lat. 09º 32.319’ South / Long. 65º 27.193’ west 741 feet above sea level. It is located above a hill called in portguese “Serra da Muralha”, aproximately 9 miles from the Madeira river’s banks. It consists of a circular wall 3 to 5 feet high. The total length of the wall is aproximately 1500 feet.
Previous studies
According to Historian Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1570), the Incas maintained good relations with Moxos people and with the ethnic groups that lived in the Paititi area. However the Incas decided to built two fortress to control the amazonic area near Beni River and Madeira river.
First fortress was located near the city of Riberalta (Bolivia), and is known as Las Piedras fortress.
In 2001, two researchers from the University of Helsinki, Dr. Ari Siiriäinen (archaeologist) and Dr. Martti Pärssinen (historian), put forward a hypothesis according to which the Paititi legend was related to the Inca expeditions into the Amazonian jungle and to the possible Inca military presence in the region of the Beni and the Madre de Dios rivers. In order to test this hypothesis, a joint Finnish-Bolivian archaeological expedition was carried out in 2001-3 to investigate the fortified site Las Piedras near the town of Riberalta in the Eastern Bolivia. Some fragments of imperial Inca ceramics were found during the excavations but the presumed Inca origin of the site remains questionable.
The second fortress that was described by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa remained unknown.
Recent investigations
Even if the fortress was known by local people of the Abunà village and by scientists of Porto Velho, Italian researcher Yuri Leveratto and Brazilian guide Francisco Chogo dos Santos reached the area in December 2011 in order to study the archeological site (without excavation).
The archeological site has not been yet studied by professional archeologists, that is the reason that is too early to understand the real purpose of the constructors.
According to Italian researcher Yuri Leveratto, Madeira Fortress was built during the Inca empire, its purpose was to control the Madeira river area, and it could have been built by emperor Pachacutec to control the Paititi area.

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