Newly Discovered ~4,000-Year-Old Theater And Temple In Peru Yields Insight On Early Religious Practice

The team recently made some major discoveries, as Luis recounts in this e-mail: In one excavation sector, we revealed what seems to be an ancient theatre composed of a stage, a kind of backstage, and a frontal patio, accessed through a staircase (badly damaged by looters, sadly). Descending from the staircase, we found two clay slabs decorated with high-relief designs [photo at right]. One of them depicts a mythological creature whose body is made up of bird and reptile attributes. We also found a mural decorated with geometric designs in red, yellow, black, and blue colors [photo lower right]. Probably representing the head of a bird (upside-down), the design seems to be part of a greater fresco that is still unexcavated. Pending the results of C14 dates, this structure might be part of a 4,000-year-old religious complex, contemporary to some of the oldest religious constructions from the Andean Initial Period (2,500–1,500 BCE). In the second excavation sector, we have uncovered a Late Moche (650–850 CE) monumental construction, which was previously unknown as it was fully covered by an extensive dune of sand. We have exposed part of the structure’s eastern façade, showing a stair-like decoration. Part of the structure (roughly 25 meters high) was covered with a fine, although badly damaged, clay plaster. Both religious constructions are associated to burials and what appear to be human offerings [example at right]. The temple predates Machu Picchu by roughly 3,500 years, and was made long before the Inca and their predecessors, including the Moche and Nazca cultures. “We don’t know what these people called themselves, or how other people referred to them,” Luis told Kate Golembiewski of the Field Museum of Natural History's Public Relations Deptartment. “All we know about them comes from what they created: their houses, temples, and funerary goods”—all of which hold clues about the origins of complex religions in the area. The excavations are supported by various institutions from Peru and the US, including Dumbarton Oaks, Archaeology in Action (former Stanford donors), the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and the Field Museum. The find received worldwide media coverage, starting with Kate’s press release, and continuing on CNN, (and CNN Brasil), MSN, Infobae, Andina, El Comercio, El Peruano, La República, ArtNews, and many more outlets.
July 12. 2024