![\"Temple](\"https:\/\/th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com\/wJoFs64kK84BdYOHK_B--w-eJ-M=\/1000x750\/filters:no_upscale():focal(3186x2397:3187x2398)\/https:\/\/tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/filer_public\/a7\/0d\/a70d47e7-2b7f-4158-85c8-41135fa46a31\/coricancha_cusco_peru_2015-07-31_dd_68_1.jpeg\")
Spanish settlers knocked down all but the foundations of the Temple of the Sun, then built a church atop the Inca walls. It\u2019s long been rumored that a network of old, underground tunnels lies beneath Cusco<\/a>, Peru, the capital of the ancient Incan<\/a> empire. Now, thanks to archival texts and ground-penetrating radar, researchers say they\u2019ve confirmed the tunnels\u2019 existence.<\/p>\n Archaeologists Jorge Calero Flores and Mildred Fern\u00e1ndez Palomino, leaders of the research project, recently announced<\/a> their findings at a press conference, according to a translated Facebook<\/a> post by the Association of Archaeologists of Peru<\/a>. Flores said the team found an underground passage connecting two of Cusco\u2019s key Inca monuments: the Temple of the Sun<\/a>\u2014which conquistadors ruined and covered with a Catholic church in the 16th century<\/a>\u2014and the Sacsayhuam\u00e1n<\/a> fortress, a 15th-century Inca monument of stone walls more than a mile away.<\/p>\n
\n Diego Delso<\/a>, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span>
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![Diego Delso<\/a>,](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Coricancha,_Cusco,_Per%C3%BA,_2015-07-31,_DD_68.JPG\"){kind=link}