Archaeologists discover a lost temple in the sand that solves a major historical puzzle

Here’s what you’ll learn as you read this story:

• Archaeologists have discovered a 4,000-5,000-year-old ceremonial temple in Peru, revealing ancient walls, friezes, and a central staircase used for early ritual performances.

• The team also found three adult skeletons and a possible offering, providing new clues about early religious practices and a little-known culture that existed before documented Andean civilizations.

• A second, later temple dating to 600-700 AD was also discovered, which also contained the remains of a small child, showing how complex belief systems developed in the region over thousands of years.

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Archaeologists recently discovered the lost ruins of a ceremonial temple in northwestern Peru, covered in sand and dating back 4,000 to 5,000 years. The excavation team first discovered the walls, and later discovered a mix of features indicating that the structure was once a temple. And then in the middle of the wall came the skeletal remains of three adults.

“We may be facing a 5,000-year-old religious site that is an architectural space defined by walls built with rammed earth,” said Luis Armando Muro Yonan, director of the Cultural Landscape Archaeological Project of Ucupe – Valle de Zaña, in a statement translated from Peru’s Ministry of Culture.

The oldest part of the site contains not only the 5,000-year-old walls, but also various architectural features that help define the site as a formal temple. “We would have had a central staircase from which to ascend to a kind of stage in the central part,” said Muro Yonon, adding that the stage could have hosted ritual performances in front of an audience.

The ruins include images of cats, reptile claws, and a human body with a bird’s head. The designs are preserved in “fine plaster”, which has helped scientists determine the exact age of the site and the origin of the religion. The team plans to study the chemical composition of the paint on the walls to help confirm how old the site is.

But it wasn’t just architecture located in these sand dunes – there were also human remains. According to ReutersThe excavation team found the remains of three adult bodies placed between the walls of the temple. Also nearby was a bundle wrapped in cotton cloth that likely served as an offering.

“It was amazing,” Muro Yonone said, according to a statement from Chicago’s Field Museum. “This discovery tells us about the early origins of religion in Peru. We still know very little about how and under what conditions complex belief systems emerged in the Andes, and now we have some of the earliest religious sites that people were creating in this part of the world.”

Muro Yonon said the newly discovered temple probably contains more information about a people group that predated the area’s known inhabitants. “We don’t know what these people called themselves,” he said, “or how other people addressed them. All we know about them comes from what they made: their houses, temples, and burial goods.”

Excavation teams were called to the scene after the local government saw looting in the area. “It was amazing that so many of these ancient structures were so close to the modern surface,” said Muro Yonon. “We think a great temple was built on the side of the hill, and we found a part of it.”

Archaeologists also discovered a more recent temple, dating between 600 and 700 AD, Muro Yonon believes the second site comes from the Moche culture. It also contains remains—probably of young children between 5 and 6 years old—but from a later period.

“The people here created complex religious systems and beliefs about their universe,” said Muro Yonon. “An important aspect of the rise of political authority was religion.”

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