Archaeology Sites in Peru

From the Centro de Investigaciones Arqueologicas de Arequipa, information on the history and prehistory of the city, including roads, rock art, and the connection to the Tiwanaku civilization. English and Spanish

Cahuachi is a major ceremonial center of the Nasca civilization in Peru, occupied from between AD 1-500.

A newly dated site on the Peruvian coast proves to be the earliest urban settlement in the Americas.

Cerro Lampay is a Late Archaic (Caral-Supe also called Norte Chico, 3000-1500 BC) and Late Intermediate (AD 900-1450) settlement site located in the Fortaleza Valley of Peru.

A travel article on this post-Inca civilization and some of their sites, by Alvaro Rocha in Rumbos.

Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimú kingdom (AD 850-1470), located on the north coast of Peru.

Chavin de Huantar is an archaeological site of the Chavín culture located on a steep slope of the Andes Mountains of Peru, occupied from about 900-200 BC.

Chilca is the name of an early Archaic period site located on the Peruvian coast about 70 kilometers south of Lima.

Chinchawas is a small village site, part of the Recuay polity, located on a known transportation route between the coast and the highlands in northern Peru.

The modern day city of Cuzco in the Andes Mountains of Peru was founded, according to legend, by Manco Capac, the founder of the Incan Civilization.

The El Brujo Complex is a major religious center of the Moche between the first and seventh centuries AD, located in the lower Chicama Valley.

A virtual reconstruction of the painted figures on the ceiling of a ceremonial precinct at the Huaca Cao Viejo located within the archeological site of El Brujo (The Wizard). This ceiling was destroyed some time around A.D. 700, and the many fragments are being put together in very painstaking manner.

El Paraíso is the name of an early preceramic or Cotton Preceramic site in the Chillon River Valley of coastal Peru.

Located near Yungay, Peru, Guitarrero Cave contains evidence of human occupations beginning at least 10,000 years ago, and perhaps as early as 12,500 years ago.

Huaca de la Luna is a large Moche civilization settlement located adjacent to Huaca de la Sol, and both together make the site called Moche.

The Huaca del Sol is an enormous adobe (mud brick) Moche civilization pyramid, built in at least eight different stages between AD 0-600 at the site of Cerro Blanco in the Moche Valley of the northern coast of Peru

Huaca La Florida is an early ceremonial center on the central coast of Peru

Inca ruins visited by explorer Gregory Deyermenjian; an article in Athena Review.

From Chip Stanish at UCLA, a report on these two islands in Lake Titicaca, occupied for some 3,000 years and sacred since the Tiwanaku Empire.

The circular stone fortress of Kuélap is located on a rocky promontory deep in the Amazon rainforest of Peru, and dates to the Chachapoyas culture.

Three thousand feet above Urubamba Valley, Peru, stretch two mountains, Machu Picchu (Old Mountain) and Huayna Picchu (Young Mountain). On a cloud-draped ridge between the two peaks lies the site of Machu Picchu, part of the estate of the Inca king Pachacuti

The mummified body of a seven-year-old Inka girl dated ca 1350 AD, recovered from atop Mt. Sara Sara, a news brief with additional links from Archaeology magazine.

The Nazca Lines are large geometric animal and abstract geoglyphs from rocks in a desert in northern Peru.

The archaeological site of Pachacamac, Peru contains pyramids and other constructions belonging to both the Huari and Inca states.

The archaeological site of Pacheco, Peru, is a Wari religious offering, consisting of large quantities of high-quality pottery, purposefully broken.

Rock art site northeast of Cuzco, a travelogue in Athena Review by Gregory Deyermenjian.

The Peruvian site of Pikillaqta was a provincial capital of the Wari empire.

Pukara is a Late Formative Period occupation on Lake Titicaca, dated primarily between 1400 BC and AD 100; from Elizabeth Klarich at UC Santa Barbara.

The archaeological site called Quebrada de Santo Domingo is along a very scenic 32 square kilometer long dry river valley off the Rio Moche in Peru.

The archaeological site called Sechin Alto is the capital of a pre-incan culture located on the northwest coast of Peru, occupied between approximately 1800-900 BC.

The Sipán site is a large Moche culture administrative and religious center, located in the lower Lambayeque Valley on the northern coast of Peru.

Expedition 2000: The Search for Paititi and the Lost Realm of the Incas: an article in Athena Review by Gregory Deyermenjian which really is an explorer's tale rather than an archaeological one.

Underwater investigations by UCLA in Lake Titicaca; an article in the Institute of Archaeology's Backdirt.

A travel article in Rumbos by Luis Moro.

Viracochapampa is the name of a Huari empire outpost that was begun on a main Andean roadway, but never finished.