Learning Stone - Yachay Rumi

On the Achiyaku, or Wisdom Water river, lays a large boulder.

The boulder is called Yachay Rumi, or the Learning Stone.

This is because it has several different petroglyphs on it.

Petroglyphs are prehistoric pictures carved in stones.

In the Ecuador's Andean region, there can be found many different caves with petroglyphs.

In the Amazonic area there are many boulders and vulcanic stones that have petroglyphs on them out in the open.

In Ecuador, the systematic study of the petroglyphs has barely begun.

For years it has mostly been amateur domain and a tourist atraction.

There is no real knowledge of how or why the carvings were done or what do they depict.

There is also no information about the people who did them.

We cannot tell if they were the ancestors of Kichwa people living currently in the area or maybe some other people.

They probably were hunter-gatherers with little or no agronomy.

In the actual folk lore, Yachay Rumi, or the Learning Stone, is called this because it has been the place for kasikes or shamans to learn they office.

The Amazonic Kichwas of Napo say that the stone holds the knowledge of the ancients.

And everyone who wants to be a kasike needs to study it.