Archaeologists discover 4,000-year-old temple in western Peru

[Judi Lynn]

Archaeologists found a 4,000-year-old temple in the Miraflores archaeological site in western Peru

- video at link -

Peruvian archaeologists have found a 4,000-year-old temple in the Miraflores archaeological site located in western Peru, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNSM) announced on Friday.

Experts believe people carried out religious ceremonies in the U-shaped temple.

UNSM archaeologists also found a chacana, an ancient cross symbol, carved into a frieze.

"This chacana or southern cross is the oldest complete representation that has been found in the Andes," said archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen.

He said the temple located in the lower valley of the Chancay River was where they carried out excavations and discovered the architecture that formed part of the temple.

More:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-13/archaeologists-discover-4-000-year-old-temple-discovered-in-peru/102342980

(video is not in English!)

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Peruvian archaeologists unearth 4,000-year-old temple
bl/kb 13.05.2023, 16:29

- same video at link -

A 4,000-year-old temple was uncovered at the Miraflores archaeological site in western Peru, announced Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNSM) on Friday. The U-shaped temple is believed to have been a site for religious ceremonies.

The notable discovery includes a chacana, an ancient Andean cross symbol, carved into a frieze. Archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen explained, “This chacana or southern cross is the oldest complete representation that has been found in the Andes.” Van Dalen further elaborated on the significance of the find, stating it underscores the importance of the chacana symbol in ancient Peruvian cultures, underlining its long cultural and religious tradition spanning 4,000 years up to the Inca period.

https://tvpworld.com/69826685/peruvian-archaeologists-unearth-4000-year-old-temple

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Reuters:

Temple built 4,000 years ago unearthed in Peru
By Marco Aquino

2 MIN READ


LIMA (Reuters) - A 4,000-year-old temple filled with murals has been unearthed on the northern coast of Peru, making it one of the oldest finds in the Americas, a leading archaeologist said on Saturday.

- 6 interesting photos at link, can't copy and paste them, must see at link -

The temple, inside a larger ruin, includes a staircase that leads up to an altar used for fire worship at a site scientists have called Ventarron, said Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva, who led the dig.

It sits in the Lambayeque valley, near the ancient Sipan complex that Alva unearthed in the 1980s. Ventarron was built long before Sipan, about 2,000 years before Christ, he said.

“It’s a temple that is about 4,000 years old,” Alva, director of the Museum Tumbas Reales (Royal Tombs) of Sipan, told Reuters by telephone after announcing the results of carbon dating at a ceremony north of Lima sponsored by Peru’s government.

“What’s surprising are the construction methods, the architectural design and most of all the existence of murals that could be the oldest in the Americas,” he said.

More:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-peru-archaeology/temple-built-4000-years-ago-unearthed-in-peru-idUSN1018888320071111

[Deuxcents]

1. Interesting..I'll bet the climate there helps to preserve these finds.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Hadn't thought of that, but no doubt you're right, for sure! Atacama Desert, driest place on earth!

Glad you mentioned that.

[2naSalit]

2. Very interesting find.

Thanks for posting!

[Judi Lynn]

6. Here's hoping there will be a lot more ahead they will uncover. Thank you, 2naSalit.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Wikipedia entry for this site:

Ventarrón is the site of a 4,500-year-old temple with painted murals, which was excavated in Peru in 2007 near Chiclayo, in the Lambayeque region on the northern coast. The site was inhabited by the Early Cupisnique, Cupisnique, Chavin and Moche cultures.

On 12 November 2017, a fire, reportedly caused by farmers burning nearby sugar cane fields, damaged much of the site.[1]

Location
Located in a valley, the complex covers about 2500 square meters (27,000 square feet).[2] The site is about 12 miles from Sipán, a religious and political center of the later Moche culture, which flourished from AD 1 to AD 700 (about 2000 to 1300 years ago). It is about 760 km (470 mi) north of Peru's capital of Lima.[3]

The central complex of Ventarron also includes the archaeological site of Arenal, located on a hillslope to the northeast.

Murals
The temple and murals were radio carbon dated to 2000 B.C., the latter of which is thought to be the oldest discovered in the Americas. One mural on two walls depicts a deer caught in a net; another has an abstract design in red and white.[4] The temple was constructed of bricks of river sediment rather than the stone or adobe later to be traditional in the area; its construction is unique for the northern coast. It contains a stairway leading to a fire altar.

Walter Alva, the Peruvian archaeologist making the discovery, commented on the findings:

"What's surprising are the construction methods, the architectural design and most of all the existence of murals that could be the oldest in the Americas. He said, "The discovery of this temple reveals evidence suggesting the region of Lambayeque was one of great cultural exchange between the Pacific coast and the rest of Peru."[3]

More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventarron

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Older article:

Ancient Peruvian mural at Ventarrón destroyed in fire
Published
13 November 2017



The photo shows the mural before the fire spread through the archaeological complex
A fire at the Ventarrón archaeological complex in northern Peru has destroyed a mural dating back to 2000BC, officials say.

The fire at the 4,500-year-old archaeological site is believed to have been caused by farm workers burning sugar cane nearby.

The mural, one of the oldest documented in the Americas, has suffered smoke damage.

The painting shows a deer caught in a net and was discovered in 2007.

More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41972208

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Website with amazing photos from Peru, thousands of years ago!

https://mikeruggerisancientperu.tumblr.com/post/128136994518/cupinsique-1500-500-bc


Here's an article from the New York Times linked at this website which is by subscription, available at the archive site posted at DU by a DU'er recently:

Evidence Found for Canals That Watered Ancient Peru
By John Noble Wilford
Jan. 3, 2006

In the Andean foothills of Peru, not far from the Pacific coast, archaeologists have found what they say is evidence for the earliest known irrigated agriculture in the Americas.

An analysis of four derelict canals, filled with silt and buried deep under sediments, showed that they were used to water cultivated fields 5,400 years ago, in one case possibly as early as 6,700 years ago, archaeologists reported in a recent issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Other scholars hailed the discovery as adding a new dimension to understanding the origins of civilization in the Andes. The canals are seen as the long-sought proof that irrigation technology was critical to the development of the earliest Peruvian civilization, one of the few major cultures in the ancient world to rise independent of outside influence.

It was assumed that by 4,000 years ago, perhaps 1,000 years earlier, large-scale irrigation farming was well under way in Peru, as suggested by the indirect evidence of urban ruins of increasing size and architectural distinction. Their growth presumably depended on irrigation in the arid valleys and hills descending to coastal Peru. But the telling evidence of the canals had been missing.

More:
https://archive.ph/mygpk#selection-295.0-394.0

Here's a google image page of photos of ancient irrigation canals in Peru:

https://tinyurl.com/2vbrn6j6


(For future reference, here's the Archive website you can use, too, posted at DU recently by a very thoughtful, generous DU'er:

https://archive.ph/ )

( I have used it with real gratitude, thinking what a great advantage it gives us! )

[AZ8theist]

7. Explain this one, Young Earth Creationists......

[Warpy]

8. There have been a lot of truly great civilizations in the Americas

I'm especially fond of the Moche, I love their pottery. Much of it is humorous, some of it is obscene (YouTube humorlessly putting age restrictions on anything that offends a certain type of Christian) and all of it interactive in some way.

Here's a part of a lecture: Oh, yeah, and ***NSFW***

I wonder what kind of pots they'll excavate here in their temple.

What seems to have ended this wonderful culture is climate change, the yearly fresh water floods just stopped and the culture with them.

[Hekate]

9. Bookmarking -- this looks like a fabulous read. Thanks to all who contributed to the thread.