Posts tagged "pyramids"

New royal Sicán tomb discovered in Bosque de Pomac

New royal Sicán tomb discovered in Bosque de Pomac

The Pomac Forest, first home of the Sicán civilisation, has revealed another ancient secret. Under Las Ventanas, one of several adobe pyramids that poke out above the dry forest’s trees, one of the most ancient tombs of the elite has been discovered.

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Newly discovered Moche pyramid is “unusual”

Newly discovered Moche pyramid is “unusual”

A team of archaeologists who uncovered a 1,400 year old pyramid in Peru say that the finding is particularly unusual. The flat-topped pyramid, which was built by the Moche culture, was used for the living rather than just for the dead, and contains a wealth of artefacts, murals and human remains.

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Neighbouring city of ancient Caral at risk

Neighbouring city of ancient Caral at risk

Era de Pando, a satellite city to the famous Caral of one of the earliest civilisations in the Americas thousands of years old, is in danger of being destroyed by locals.

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Nine of Lima’s huacas to form new tourist circuit

Nine of Lima’s huacas to form new tourist circuit

Nine of Lima’s many pre-Inca adobe pyramidal mounds, or huacas, will form part of a new tourist circuit. The plan will include modern lighting systems to light up the historical monuments at night.

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800 year old tomb of shaman discovered

800 year old tomb of shaman discovered

Curandero – witch-doctor or medicine-man in English, but the most direct translation is healer. The tradition of the curanderos still runs strong in the Muchik northern coast of La Libertad and Lambayeque, particularly around Chiclayo. The traditions and techniques of theses healers date back to pre-Colombian times and the the civilisations of the Chimú, Sicán and the Moche before them. Archaeologists have recently been given a glimpse into this period of time with the discovery of the 800 year old tomb of a Sicán curandero.

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Naylamp’s temple discovered in Lambayeque

Naylamp’s temple discovered in Lambayeque

After eight months of careful excavation, archaeologists of the Brüning Museum in Lambayeque have discovered, next to the Huaca Chornancap pyramid, what is thought to be the sacred temple of Naylamp, a supposedly mythical ruler that according to oral legend was the founder of the post-Moche Lambayeque civilisation.

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Priestess of Cahuachi

Priestess of Cahuachi

Tomb discovered of an elite child dating to the early Nasca Period. With the mummy were various pieces of jewellery made from gold, silver and precious stones.

Paying for a guardian out of his own pocket for 27 years turned out to be worth it for the Italian archaeologists Giuseppe Orefici, director of the Nasca Project. Not reimbursed by his supervisors in Italy nor (shamefully but all too predictably) by the Peruvian state, it is thanks to the Italian’s dedication at the heavily tomb-raided ceremonial city of Cahuachi, a expansive adobe city of countless buried pyramids, that a recent discovery was able to be made.

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Huarco temple complex of Vilcahuasi

Huarco temple complex of Vilcahuasi

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I finally looked out around me from atop the huge mound of sand I had just climbed. What I was standing on was clearly the remains of an ancient pyramid, and next to it was another and another and another after that. I counted twelve in total.

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Lost city of Cerro Azul

Lost city of Cerro Azul

When the Incas arrived in the Cañete valley they found it fiercely defended by the Guarco (Huarco) people who lived there. It took future emperor Túpac Yupanqui years to subdue them, even going as far as to temporarily recreate the imperial capital of Cusco nearby as a base to attack from, moving the empire’s army there in the process. There were Huarco fortresses dotted across the fertile valley, and these fiercely defensive people had 20,000 warriors at their disposal, reading to die for their freedom – but life for the Huarco wasn’t always like this.

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Huacas of Manchay Alto

Huacas of Manchay Alto

There’s not much left of it now, but there is something special about this temple complex in the Lurín valley that makes it so interesting. At about 3000 years old, it makes the city of Pachacamac just to the southwest look positively modern.

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The Nazca Civilisation

The Nazca Civilisation

Descended from the older Paracas civilisation, the Nazca are of course most famous for their countless mysterious lines draw in the rocky desert plains in which they lived. They were also great water engineers, creating a series of complex aqueducts.

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Two Sicán elite found at the Bosque de Pomac archaeological site

Two Sicán elite found at the Bosque de Pomac archaeological site

New excavations have uncovered two burials of Sicán elite. The co-director of the archaeological project, Carlos Elera Arévalo, explains that the remains of both bodies were found with gold, silver and copper ornaments that demonstrate their position in their society, and the period during which they lived – around 900-1100 BC.

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