08-16-2024, 11:45 PM
This post was last modified 08-16-2024, 11:46 PM by Maxmars.
Edit Reason: spelling
Near a coastal town in Peru called Zaña, archeologists have unearthed a reported temple and theater which includes artwork resembling those which have been dated from what they refer to as the "Initial period," (2,000 to 900 BC.) This would mark the site as dating some about 3,500 years earlier than Machu Picchu, making it pre-Inca, pre-Mocha, and pre-Nazca.
While they are still waiting for carbon dating results to flesh out their estimates, this seems like more evidence indicating that we have much to learn about early inhabitants of the region.
From Smithsonian Magazine: Archaeologists Unearth 4,000-Year-Old Ceremonial Temple in Peru
Researchers in Peru say they have found the remains of a 4,000-year-old temple and theater, a discovery that could enrich historians’ understanding of ancient religious practices in the region.
“We still know very little about how and under which circumstances complex belief systems emerged in the Andes,” says Luis Muro Ynoñán, an archaeologist from Peru’s Pontifical Catholic University who led the team, in a statement. “Now we have evidence about some of the earliest religious spaces that people were creating in this part of the world.”
The ruins appear to predate Machu Picchu, the Inca settlement that is now Peru’s best-known archaeological site, by roughly 3,500 years. The researchers say they also predate pre-Inca cultures such as the Moche and Nazca.
“We don’t know what these people called themselves, or how other people referred to them,” Muro Ynoñan adds. “All we know about them comes from what they created: their houses, temples and funerary goods.”
...
The archaeologist tells Reuters’ Marco Aquino that he is still waiting for the results of radiocarbon testing, which will confirm the site’s age. In the meantime, he is estimating the date based in part on an elaborately carved image found along one of the theater’s staircases. The carving, which depicts a mythological bird-like creature, resembles other artworks from the Initial Period (around 2000 to 900 B.C.E.)—or about 4,000 years ago.
“The Initial Period is important because it’s when we first start to see evidence of an institutionalized religion in Peru,” says Muro Ynoñan in the statement. “The bird creature at this temple resembles a figure known from the Chavín region, nearly 500 years later. This new site could help reveal the origins of this religion.”
I am frequently amazed to discover that we know less and less, as we learn more and more.
While they are still waiting for carbon dating results to flesh out their estimates, this seems like more evidence indicating that we have much to learn about early inhabitants of the region.
From Smithsonian Magazine: Archaeologists Unearth 4,000-Year-Old Ceremonial Temple in Peru
Researchers in Peru say they have found the remains of a 4,000-year-old temple and theater, a discovery that could enrich historians’ understanding of ancient religious practices in the region.
“We still know very little about how and under which circumstances complex belief systems emerged in the Andes,” says Luis Muro Ynoñán, an archaeologist from Peru’s Pontifical Catholic University who led the team, in a statement. “Now we have evidence about some of the earliest religious spaces that people were creating in this part of the world.”
The ruins appear to predate Machu Picchu, the Inca settlement that is now Peru’s best-known archaeological site, by roughly 3,500 years. The researchers say they also predate pre-Inca cultures such as the Moche and Nazca.
“We don’t know what these people called themselves, or how other people referred to them,” Muro Ynoñan adds. “All we know about them comes from what they created: their houses, temples and funerary goods.”
...
The archaeologist tells Reuters’ Marco Aquino that he is still waiting for the results of radiocarbon testing, which will confirm the site’s age. In the meantime, he is estimating the date based in part on an elaborately carved image found along one of the theater’s staircases. The carving, which depicts a mythological bird-like creature, resembles other artworks from the Initial Period (around 2000 to 900 B.C.E.)—or about 4,000 years ago.
“The Initial Period is important because it’s when we first start to see evidence of an institutionalized religion in Peru,” says Muro Ynoñan in the statement. “The bird creature at this temple resembles a figure known from the Chavín region, nearly 500 years later. This new site could help reveal the origins of this religion.”
I am frequently amazed to discover that we know less and less, as we learn more and more.
