Monte Catequilla (also Kati-Killa) is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

in the Pomasqui Valley of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. Located in the Parish of San Antonio of

Quito Canton Quito, officially the Metropolitan District of Quito (), is a Cantons of Ecuador, canton in the province of Pichincha Province, Pichincha, Ecuador. Governance The Municipality of Quito (officially the Municipality of the Metropolitan District o ...

Pichincha Province Pichincha () is a province of Ecuador located in the northern Sierra region; its capital and largest city is Quito. It is bordered by Imbabura and Esmeraldas to the north, Cotopaxi and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to the south, Napo and ...

, it has an elevation of and is located on a mountaintop about above valleys on either side. Attributed to the

Pre-Columbian era In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

Quitu The Quitu or Quillaco were Pre-Columbian era, Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples in Ecuador who founded Quito, which is the capital of present-day Ecuador.

Cara culture The Cara or Caranqui culture flourished in coastal Ecuador, in what is now Manabí Province, in the first millennium CE. History In the 10th century AD, they followed the Esmeraldas River up to the high Andean valley of Caranqui. They were ofte ...

, it was presumably used as an astronomical observatory even before the arrival of the

Incas The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...

, and is the only prehispanic site in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

that is located precisely at the Earth's

Equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

History

Catequilla is translated from

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

to mean "follower of the moon". Its construction, circa 800 AD, is attributed to the Quitu-Cara culture. The site consists of a semicircular wall, in length with a diameter of , although no clear architectural features accurately show the exact positions of its ends. It leans toward the east end south sides with at an

azimuth An azimuth (; from ) is the horizontal angle from a cardinal direction, most commonly north, in a local or observer-centric spherical coordinate system. Mathematically, the relative position vector from an observer ( origin) to a point ...

of 113 degrees, and declines on the western end to the north side, with an azimuth of 293 degrees. The wall height varies between and , but based on the broken material beside it, the wall could have been more than high. In the northwest of the site, there is a lithic disk (a circular stone-filled platform) in diameter, consisting mainly of stone masonry. It has three lines of stones. Situated on a hill, there was a water source at the site at one time. Along with the stone-filled circles of Jarata and Pacpo to the south, it forms a straight line along which the shade from the mountains falls during the June

solstice A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries ...

. While many of the

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

today believe that the purpose of these circles was to provide a solid flat surface for the threshing of wheat and other cereals, several astronomic and

geodetic Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the geometry, gravity, and spatial orientation of the Earth in temporally varying 3D. It is called planetary geodesy when studying other astronomical bodies, such as planets ...

alignments have been detected, questioning the validity of this theory. After several archaeological excavations by Oswaldo Tovar, many ceramics were unearthed from Incan and colonial times. Though the site is virtually abandoned, nearby mining operations in the area could jeopardize its integrity. Even so, the government has taken no action. As it is located on the equator, it is said to be in the " Middle of the World". As of 2011, it is said to be "the only important pre-Inca site in Ecuador to have been commercially exploited." The

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

pucara Pukara ( Aymara and Quechuan "fortress", Hispanicized spellings ''pucara, pucará'') is a defensive hilltop site or fortification built by the prehispanic and historic inhabitants of the central Andean area (from Ecuador to central Chile and n ...

(stone fortress) of Rumicucho is located about north of Catequilla.

References

{{coord, 0, 0, 0, N, 78, 25, 43.3, W, type:landmark, display=title Archaeological sites in Ecuador Ancient astronomical observatories Buildings and structures in Pichincha Province Equator monuments