Definition: 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 site is remarkable for its enormous mound, the largest of its time period, measuring some 990 feet long, by 825 feet wide by 145 feet tall.
The Sechin Alto Complex included a proto-urban settlement of approximately 4 miles in diameter and included the sites of Sechin Bajo, Taukachi-Konkan, and Cerro Sechin. Julio C. Tello was the first archaeologist to survey Sechin Alto, in the late 1930s; later investigators have included Donald Collier, Donald Thompson, Rosa Fung, Carlos Williams and Sheila and Thomas Pozorski.
The Sechin Alto Complex included a proto-urban settlement of approximately 4 miles in diameter and included the sites of Sechin Bajo, Taukachi-Konkan, and Cerro Sechin. Julio C. Tello was the first archaeologist to survey Sechin Alto, in the late 1930s; later investigators have included Donald Collier, Donald Thompson, Rosa Fung, Carlos Williams and Sheila and Thomas Pozorski.
Source
Pozorski, Thomas and Shelia Pozorski 2005 Architecture and Chronology at the Site of Sechín Alto, Casma Valley, Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology 30(2):143-161.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
