Huaca de la Luna: Peru's most beautiful ruin?

Peru’s most beautiful ruins are not located at Machu Picchu. The Inca construction there is an example of masterful engineering, and has a jaw dropping location, but, in the end, the ruins themselves are a series of very well-built gray walls. I know, it’s not the Incas’ fault that their decorative elements were spirited away by dashing archaeologists, but that doesn’t change the experience for visitors today.

If you want to see the height of ancient, artistic creativity, you’ll have to head to an archaeological site on the other end of the country: the Huaca de la Luna. The site receives just 300 visitors per day, not because it is hard to get to (it is only about fifteen minutes by taxi from the center of Trujillo, Peru’s third-largest city), but because it has never been mythologized or marketed, which is a shame.

The pyramid was built by the Moche culture about 1,500 years ago- well before the Inca came to power in the southern Andes. Along with the Huaca del Sol, it book-ended a city of some 20,000 people in the Moche River valley, under the folds of the Cerro Blanco hill. The Huaca de la Luna was the religious center for the Moche, a site for sacrifices and rituals.

The ruins of the ancient Moche city, the Huaca del Sol, the Moche River valley.

One approaches the site today from the Trujillo suburb of Moche. Don’t be put-off by the pyramid’s external appearance: it looks like a massive pile of dirt and bricks, covered by some metal roofing. The good stuff is all inside.

What is the good stuff, you ask? Ancient friezes covering the interior walls of the temple, with their original, 1,500-year-old paint jobs. Because the Moche kept building new temples on the old site, the bricks of each new temple preserved the paintings of the old one.

Archaeologists have peeled back the layers to fin representations of gods and religious ceremonies. One massive room has images of Ai-Apaec, the principal Moche god, covering every wall, with different facial expressions. It’s hard not to ponder at the world view (and San Pedro cactus) that led to such art.

Ai apaec friezes

On an outside patio, your guide will explain which chambers were used for human sacrifices, and how the victims were selected through ritual warfare. Inside, the altar where their blood was consecreated to the gods is perfectly preserved, and the paintings around it have been maintained.

The most breath-taking site is one you’ll see on your way out of the pyramid. As you exit by the ancient ramp that served as the entrance to the temple, you will see the external wall of the final pyramid. Its entire side is covered in painted friezes, dating back a thousand years. Here, more than any other place I’ve been in Peru, it is easy to see what the ancient city looked like when it was occupied.

The external wall of the pyramid

One amazing aspect of the Huaca de la Luna site is that excavations have, basically, only begun. The ancient city is just being explored now, and archaeologists have not done excavation in the Huaca del Sol, which could hold similar artistic treasures. It’s an exciting, evolving attraction on the northern coast.

Cusco: Descubren momia de niño preinca en distrito de Livitaca

Una momia infante preinca, de 50 centímetros de alto, fue hallada por personal de la Dirección Regional de Cultura, en buen estado de conservación, dentro de una de las tumbas del complejo arqueológico de Chiñisiri, jurisdicción del distrito de Livitaca, provincia de Chumbivilcas. 

El hallazgo sorprendió al personal del ente cultural que logró divisar la existencia de la momia infante, cuando realizaban trabajos de recuperación de dicho complejo arqueológico, caracterizado por la existencia de tumbas preincas.

Según el arqueólogo Jorge Atauconcha, representante de la Dirección Regional de Cultura, se trata de un infante de unos 5 a 6 años de edad, probablemente de la cultura Wari, quien fue sepultado en las tumbas de Chiñisiri por alguna enfermedad que padeció.

El profesional informó que la momia será debidamente estudiada por personal de su institución con el propósito de conocer la antigüedad del hallazgo.

Entre tanto, acompañado de pobladores y autoridades, la pequeña momia fue internada dentro del local del municipio distrital de Livitaca para su conservación y estudio.

Restos descubiertos de noble Wari serán exhibidos por 15 días en la Casa Garcilaso

Cusco, feb. 24 (ANDINA). A partir de hoy y durante 15 días se exhibirán en la Casa Garcilaso, los restos del noble perteneciente a la cultura Wari descubierto en el distrito de Vilcabamba, para que sean apreciados por la población nacional y los turistas, anunció el director regional de Cultura de Cusco, Juan Julio García Rivas.
La Casa Garcilaso es uno de los museos más visitados del Cusco y ocupa la casa natal del escrito Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, situado en la esquina de la calle Heladeros, a dos cuadras de la Plaza de Armas.

Asimismo, el director regional de Cultura de Cusco, anunció que solicitará el apoyo de la comunidad científica nacional e internacional para continuar con las investigaciones arqueológicas, por cuanto el hallazgo del noble Wari, tendría la misma importancia que el descubrimiento del Señor de Sipán.

Por su parte, el viceministro de Patrimonio Cultural e Industrias Culturales, Bernardo Roca-Rey, anunció que se extremarán las medidas de seguridad en la zona del hallazgo, para evitar los actos de pillaje como el “huaqueo”, debido a los objetos de valor encontrados en la tumba.

Entre los objetos de valor encontrados figuran un pectoral de plata, una máscara de plata, dos brazaletes de oro, dos báculos de madera forrados de plata, y un ornamento conformado por 234 láminas de plata, y tres collares con piedras preciosas de turquesa, lapislázuli, entre otras.

La cultura pre-Inca Wari floreció entre los años 600 y 1,200 de nuestra era, y se expandió por la costa, sierra y con el presente hallazgo evidencia su presencia también en la región de la selva.

 Programas en el Norte

CARAL: CIUDAD MADRE DE TODAS LAS CIVILIZACIONES

CARAL: CIUDAD MADRE DE TODAS LAS CIVILIZACIONES

http://www.inkanatura.com/caral-peru-oldest-city-americas.asp

1000-year-old mummies found in Peru

Peruvian archaeologists have unearthed four perfectly preserved mummies at an ancient burial site in the capital city, Lima.

The mummies are more than 1000 years old and were found at the Huaca Pucllana, a pre-Inca temple located in the heart of Lima's Miraflores district.

Due to its central location, tomb looters have been stealing all sorts of archaeological treasures from the temple for centuries.

So for Peruvian archaeologist, Gladys Paz, it was a pleasant surprise when she found a tomb with a perfectly preserved roof.

Inside were four mummies - a main figure and three smaller ones which had lain there untouched for more than 11 centuries, according to ndtv.com.

Paz says the four mummies must now undergo numerous tests to determine their sex, age and the way they died.

Pieces of rich clothing, ceramics and other things including an ancient knitting kit were also found at the tomb.

Work has been on at this site for more than five years during which archaeologists have excavated 62 tombs, all of them previously looted.

The Wari who lived from 700AD to 1000 AD were warriors who moved from the mountains towards the Peruvian coast eventually conquering most of Peru including what is now Lima.

The Pucllana temple was their main burial site - used only for their elite.

After they were conquered by the Incas, the site was never reused.

Moche elites linked to copper industry lived on high, experts say

Archaeologists working at the Huaca Colorada site in northern Peru have found "odd" signs of life in a half-excavated pyramid of the Moche culture.

"Often these pyramidal mounds were built as mortuaries more than anything else," said excavation co-leader Edward Swenson, according to a National Geographic article published Thursday.

"In most instances [a pyramid] is not where people live, it is not where they were cooking their food," the University of Toronto archaeologist added.

But the newly exposed 1,400-year-old flat-topped pyramid supported residences for up to a couple dozen elites, who oversaw and perhaps took part in copper production at the site, evidence suggests.

The pre-Inca pyramid dwellers likely presided over important rituals, feasted on roasted llama and guinea pig, and drank corn beer, according to archaeologists working at the site.

Among the signs of occupation are at least 19 adobe stands where large vessels of water and corn beer were stored, as well as scattered llama, dog, guinea pig, and fish bones and traces of coca leaves and red peppers.

"There's a far more robust domestic occupation than what we would have expected," said expedition co-leader John Warner, an archaeologist with the University of Kentucky.

Odd Pyramid Had Rooftop Homes, Ritual Sacrifices?

At rare Peru site, elites linked to copper industry lived on high, experts say.

John Roach

for National Geographic News

Published October 21, 2010

Yes, it's yielded human remains—including five females who may have been ritually sacrificed. But it's the signs of life that make a half-excavated Peruvian pyramid of the Moche culture stand out, archaeologists say.

"Often these pyramidal mounds were built as mortuaries more than anything else," said excavation co-leader Edward Swenson. (See pictures from the tomb of the Moche "king of bling.")

"In most instances [a pyramid] is not where people live, it is not where they were cooking their food," the University of Toronto archaeologist added.

But the newly exposed 1,400-year-old flat-topped pyramid supported residences for up to a couple dozen elites, who oversaw and perhaps took part in copper production at the site, evidence suggests.

The pre-Inca pyramid dwellers likely presided over important rituals, feasted on roasted llama and guinea pig, and drank corn beer, according to archaeologists working at the site.

Among the signs of occupation are at least 19 adobe stands where large vessels of water and corn beer were stored, as well as scattered llama, dog, guinea pig, and fish bones and traces of coca leaves and red peppers.

"There's a far more robust domestic occupation than what we would have expected," said expedition co-leader John Warner, an archaeologist with the University of Kentucky.

Pyramid Emerges

Thriving along Peru's arid northern coast from about A.D. 100 to 800, the Moche culture was composed of independently governed agricultural societies. These groups shared a common religion and a knack for irrigation systems, intricate ceramics, and metallurgy.

In August 2009 Swenson and colleagues began excavating a long mound at the roughly 60-acre (24-hectare) Huaca Colorada site in the Lamayaeque region's southern Jequetepeque Valley. The settlement dates to the Late Moche period, about A.D. 500 to 800.

During the first month of the dig, the team uncovered the mud-brick pyramid within the mound as well as the residences. Later digging turned up evidence of human sacrifice on a rooftop platform: detached body parts and the corpses of five young women, all with signs of ritual burning and one with a rope around her neck.

More info about Article of National Geographic

Other info about Northers Kingdoms