Archaeologists recently found the lost ruins of a ceremonial temple – covered with sand and 4,000 to 5,000 years – in northwest Peru. The excavation team discovered the walls for the first time, then discovered a mixture of characteristics indicating that the structure was once a temple. And then came the skeletal remains of three adults nestled between the walls.
“We can be faced with a 5,000 -year -old religious site that constitutes a architectural The space defined by walls built by clay, “said Luis Armando Muro Ynoñán, director of cultural landscapes, said in a translated statement of the Peruvian Ministry of Culture.
The oldest part of the site not only presents the 5,000 -year walls, but also various architectural characteristics which help define the site as a ceremonial temple. “We have what would have been a central staircase from which we would go on a sort of scene in the central part,” said Muro Ynoñán, noting that the scene could have organized ritual performances in front of an audience.
Ruins include friezes with cat images, the claws of a reptileand a human body with the head of a bird. The conceptions are kept in “Fine Pllaster”, which helped scientists establish the exact age of the site and the origins of religion. The team plans to study the chemical composition of the pigments in wall paintings painted on the walls to help confirm the age of the site this fall.
But it was not only an architecture located in these sand dunes – there was human remainsAlso. According to ReutersThe excavation team located the remains of three adult bodies positioned between the walls of the temple. Nearby was also a package wrapped in linen that potentially served as a offer.
“It was incredible,” said Muro Ynoñán, according to a statement Chicago Field Museum. “This discovery tells us about the first origins of religion in Peru. We still know very little about how and in the circumstances that complex belief systems have emerged in the Andes, and now we have proof of some of the first religious spaces that people created in this part of the world. »»
Muro Ynoñán said the new temple probably contains more information on a group of people who are known to the known residents of the region. “We do not know what these people were called themselves,” he said, “or how the others have referred them. Everything we know about them comes from what they have created: their housestemples and funeral goods. »»
The excavation team was invited to the site after the local government observed looting in the region. “It was so surprising that these very old structures were so close to the modern surface,” said Muro Ynoñán. “We believe that a large temple was built on the side of the mountain, and we found a section of it.”
Archaeologists also found a more recent temple, dating from 600 and 700 to Muro Ynoñán believes that the second site comes from the ugly culture. This also presents leftovers-those of a young child, perhaps between 5 and 6 years old, but from a more recent period.
“People here have created complex religious systems and perceptions about their cosmos“Said Muro Ynoñán.” Religion was an important aspect of the emergence of political authority. “
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