5,000-year-old temple — built before the Inca — discovered in Peru. Take a look
Before the Spanish conquest of Peru, the Inca were an expansive culture known for their elaborate constructions throughout the Andes.
Machu Picchu perched in the mountains, the bustling empire capital of Cusco, and a network of roads from village to village were engineering feats of their time.
But thousands of years before the height of Inca ingenuity, other cultures are credited with building temples into the mountains.
Now, one has just been discovered.
At the Los Paredones de la Otra Banda - Las Ánimas Archaeological Complex located outside the city of Chiclayo, archaeologists have excavated the remains of a religious monument from the Formative Period, according to a June 27 news release from the Ministry of Culture.
Estimated to be about 5,000 years old, the temple walls are made from smashed mud, archaeologists said.
The religious site includes a central staircase that leads to a sort of stage or platform, according to the release.
Archaeologists also found an anthropomorphized carving. It depicts a figure with a human body, a bird’s head, feline features and reptile claws, according to the release.
Researchers believe the space was used to hold special ceremonies, they said, and a color painting was found still adorning one of the temple walls.
Nearby, at a second site, archaeologists discovered another ceremonial temple, but it is much newer, according to the release.
Dating to the late Moche period from 600 to 700 A.D., the site has buttresses at the bottom of a large stepped platform, archaeologists said.
The burial of a child, between 5 and 6 years old, was also discovered at the site, but dating from a later period, according to the release.
Chiclayo is on the western coast of Peru, about a 480-mile drive north from Lima.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Peru Ministry of Culture.
This story was originally published July 1, 2024 at 3:02 PM with the headline "5,000-year-old temple — built before the Inca — discovered in Peru. Take a look."
