Drone lidar found about 1.5 miles of zigzag roads near Machu Picchu, and researchers say twice as many remain

Drone-mounted lidar has picked out about 1.5 miles of zigzagging roads, along with terraces, platforms and circular structures, hidden in forest on the steep slopes of Mount Yanantin near Machu Picchu. A Peruvian and Polish team made the find, and Mariusz Ziółkowski of the University of Warsaw says the survey has only just begun. His estimate is that at least twice as many roads are still waiting to be identified.

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Fieldwork took place in July and August of 2026, and the first stage of the lidar analysis is the only part finished so far. Crews then had to confirm the scans on foot through dense vegetation. The University of Warsaw funded the fieldwork. The team included Jan Kłaput, Ćmielewski, Paweł Dąbek of the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Peruvian archaeologist Jeff Rocky Contreras Soto, and Nino del Solar Velarde of the Cusco culture directorate, who supervised the work in the field.

What lidar saw beneath the canopy on Mount Yanantin

According to Archaeology magazine’s report of Oct. 19, the scans revealed about 1.5 miles of zigzagging roads plus terraces, platforms and circular structures in a forest near the citadel. The magazine credits the Science in Poland news service for the original account. The University of Warsaw’s own write-up of the discovery gives the total as more than 2.5 kilometers of previously unknown pre-Columbian roads, which works out to roughly the same 1.5 to 1.6 miles.

The method explains why the roads stayed unseen. Lidar sends laser pulses toward the ground from a drone, and the returning signals can be filtered to remove the vegetation and leave a map of the terrain itself. Bartłomiej Ćmielewski of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology supervised the drone scanning. A drone can sweep a hillside that would take crews months to cut trails through, and the resulting terrain model lets archaeologists decide where checking on the ground is worth the effort. Machetes then came out, because the team had to clear heavy growth to inspect what the scans showed.

That clearing was slow. A summary of the Polish report on Archaeology Wiki says it took about three hours with a machete to cover 250 meters. The same summary places the slopes at roughly 2,000 to 2,700 meters above sea level and says one clearly defined stretch of road is at least 1.2 kilometers, or about three-quarters of a mile, long. Ćmielewski noted that one forest path, less than three feet wide, was already known to local residents.

Inca work, or something older

The pathway layout is consistent with Inca construction, yet Ziółkowski suggested that some of the remains may predate the Inca. Peru’s Ministry of Culture, in an announcement of the survey summarized by HeritageDaily in August, stressed that the age of the main road has not yet been conclusively established. Nothing in the reports read describes dating work such as excavated pottery or radiocarbon samples, so the chronology remains an open question for now.

What the find does change is the picture of how developed the landscape was. Machu Picchu National Park holds more than 60 known archaeological sites, most of them on the left bank of the Urubamba River. The new roads sit on the opposite side, where the settlement was thought to be thinner. In the university’s account, Ziółkowski said the discovery “complements and significantly revises hypotheses regarding the functioning of the entire complex.” The Warsaw center has worked in the area with Cusco’s cultural authorities since 2008, according to Greek Reporter’s August coverage. Peru’s culture minister, Alberto Beingolea Delgado, visited Machu Picchu on Aug. 11 and pledged support for further research, per the university’s account.

Twice as many, and a location kept quiet

The claim that more roads remain is an estimate, not a count. “There are certainly at least twice as many out there though,” Ziółkowski said, as quoted by Archaeology. He was speaking about unfinished business: the lidar coverage is partial, and every new flight over the forested slopes has the potential to reveal further segments. Ćmielewski said the team will continue the lidar survey and wants to expand the research area around the citadel.

Exact locations are being withheld. Ziółkowski cited fear of the unbridled and often harmful curiosity of what he called amateur treasure hunters, and the university’s account says the next campaign aims to complete the remote-sensing survey before any fieldwork that could include partial excavation. The Polish team has said it plans to seek a permit for targeted excavations. It is one of two foreign groups authorized to work in the area, the other being Japanese, and it is also discussing cooperation with the regional culture directorate in Cusco.

No journal paper was named in any of the reports reviewed, so the figures rest on statements from the team and on the Peruvian ministry’s announcement. The numbers reported by different outlets differ only by unit, but the age, purpose and full extent of the roads are claims that excavation and published analysis still have to settle.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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