Ancient ritual complex uncovered in Peru
The 1,200-year-old complex, which includes a massive platform topped with a temple, is associated with the Wari civilisation that thrived from AD600 to AD1000.
Archaeologists working in southern Peru have uncovered a 1,200-year-old ritual complex, featuring a D-shaped temple standing on top of a monumental platform.
Located at Pakaytambo, around 600km southeast of Lima, it was built by the Wari, a civilisation that controlled much of Peru from AD600 to AD1000, centuries before the rise of the Inca.
“Wari’s presence in this region of southern Peru has always
The Art Newspaper
February 23, 2023
© David Reid
been elusive,” says archaeologist David Reid of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who led the research. “The Wari empire left no written records, so even the extent of their political boundaries and activities are poorly defined. So when we first saw the platform enclosure in the shape of a ‘D’, the hallmark of Wari imperial temples, we were really excited.”
Related articles
The Art Newspaper
- Machu Picchu may be decades older than previously thought (August 2021)
- How a ceremonial shrunken head, held by a US university for decades, was finally returned to Ecuador (May 2021)
- Mummified llamas, sacrified to the gods by Incas, uncovered by archaeologists in Peru (October 2020)
- High school student leads archaeologists to lost Inca settlement (September 2020)