Peru's Oldest Ruins Found

Posted by Nicholas Gill Feb 27, 2008

Just when we thought the Caral-Supe ruins of Caral near Barranca on the coast of central Peru north of Lima were the oldest ruins in Peru and the Americas, something new is discovered.

The 5,500 year old set of ruins, 206 miles northwest of Lima in the Andean foothills, was not recently discovered, but new excavations revealed hidden layers buried in the earth. Previous carbon dating showed the site to be 3,000-3,500 years old.

The Sechin Bajo archaeological complex has been being excavated by a team of German and Peruvian archeologists since 1992. Similarly to Caral, Sechin Bajo holds a circular, sunken plaza, built of stones and adobe. The main plaza is belived to be a ceremonial space.

In an adjacent structure, built around 1800 B.C., archeologists uncovered a two meter high 3,600-year-old adobe frieze depicting the iconic image of a human sacrificer standing with open arms, holding a ritual knife in one hand and a human head in the other, an image also found in the Moche Lord of Sipan Tombs near Trujillo.