Valley of the Inca
High in the Peruvian Andes the remote Cusichaca valley lies at the heart of the ancient Inca empire. Monumental ruins of buildings, sprawling farm terraces and complex irrigation canals cover the landscape.
The only heirs of this flourishing past today are 15 families of Peruvian Indians, scraping a bare living from fields which once fed thousands. Dr Ann Kendall is the driving force behind the Cusichaca research project which has been working in the valley for six years. She has set out to test the idea that the original Inca fields and canals can be made to flourish again after five centuries of decay. Could her mixture of archaeology and engineering dig up the future? Could it change large areas of South America-if it succeeds?
Narrator Ray Moore
Film editor HORACIO QUEIRO
Horizon editor GRAHAM MASSEY
Written and produced by ROBIN BOOTLE