
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 14, 1994                   TAG: 9411170070
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL                                 LENGTH: Short

INCAN EMPIRE REACHED AMAZON

Cave dwellings and stepped paths cut into mountains near the headwaters of the Amazon indicate the Inca empire spread farther into the world's largest rain forest than was previously thought, a government official says.

Before Spanish soldiers conquered them in 1532, the Incas built a sophisticated society in the Andes stretching from present-day Ecuador south to Bolivia.

The caves and paths were found on Pico da Neblina, Brazil's highest point, and the Bauri Mountains, said Frederico Cruz, Amazonas state secretary of the environment, science and technology, in Sunday's Jornal do Brazil newspaper.

The mountains are in northern Brazil near Venezuela, 500 miles northeast of areas thought to be the heart of the Incan empire.

The caves and paths are similar to structures found at Machu Picchu in Peru, the Inca capital, Cruz said. He said the caves had carvings of llamas, animals native to the Peruvian Andes but not the Amazon.

Experts believe the Incas went into the Amazon rain forest to collect and smelt gold.

by CNB