An allegedly intoxicated man vandalised a 500-year-old archaeological artefact known as the 12-Angle Stone in Peru, authorities said Tuesday.

Police said the 30-year-old man was suspected of attacking the stone with a hammer.

He was arrested after the incident in the city of Cusco, which was recorded on a nearby surveillance camera, according to police.

Police believe the man, identified as Gabriel Roysi, was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he took a hammer to the stone, the head of Cusco police station Henry Valdez told state news agency Andina.

Specialists observing the damage caused to the historic stone of the ‘12 Angles’ after it was vandalised in Cusco, southern Peru, on February 18. Photo: Handout/Peru's Ministry of Culture/AFP

Peru’s Ministry of Culture said in a statement that multiple fragments broke off “the emblematic stone structure”.

“According to current regulations, this act is an attack on culture and could be punished with a prison sentence of up to six years,” Jorge Moya, director of Cusco’s culture ministry, told reporters.

The incident caused “irreversible damage”, he lamented.

The stone, a popular tourist attraction and landmark of Peru’s Incan cultural heritage, is part of a wall that made up the Inca Roca palace.

Its perfect 12-angled border is described as symbolic of the advanced stonework of the Inca civilisation.

The stone is part of what is now the Archbishop’s Palace in Cusco and an art museum.