Moray, Inca agricultural research center in Cusco Region, Peru

Moray is an archaeological site in Urubamba Province, Peru, that consists of a set of circular terraces arranged like an amphitheater sunk into the landscape. The deepest of the three main structures descends roughly 100 feet (30 meters) below ground level, while the stone walls of each level stand roughly shoulder height.

The land belonged before the Inca period to the Maras Ayar Macas, who also dominated the Sacred Valley. Once annexed to the Inca Empire, the geographic depressions were used to build the complex, probably after Pachacútec's expansion following the defeat of the Chancas. After the Spanish arrival in 1533 it fell out of use and was found again in 1932 by Shirppe Johnson's, who spotted it from the air.

The name likely comes from the Quechua word for corn or from a type of dehydrated potato common throughout the Andes. Visitors today see the terraced bowl as a symbol of farming knowledge passed down through generations and still applied in the surrounding countryside.

The site lies about an hour's drive northwest of Cusco at an elevation of roughly 11 100 feet (3 400 meters) and is reached by a paved road. A visit typically takes an hour and combines well with stops in other villages of the Sacred Valley.

Local people call the upright stones set in the terraces "ñustas"; researcher John Earls argued they mark the limits of afternoon shadows at the equinoxes and solstices. Each terrace is thought to reproduce the climate of a different ecological zone of the Inca Empire.