Two anthropology professors from the University of Wyoming have uncovered one of the oldest circular plazas in the Andean region of South America, showing monumental megalithic architecture.
Located at the archaeological site of Callacpuma in the Cajamarca basin of northern Peru, the plaza is constructed with large vertically positioned megalithic stones, a construction method never before seen in the Andes.
Associate Professor Jason Toohey, leader of the project, and Professor Melissa Murphy have been researching this topic since the start of their project in 2015. Excavations of the plaza began in 2018.
Their article, published in the journal Science Advances, provides new data on this oldest known circular megalithic plaza in northern Andes. Radiocarbon dating places its initial construction around 4,750 years ago, during the Late Preceramic Period, making it one of the earliest examples of this type of architecture in the Americas.
To better understand the chronology, the team carefully excavated the plaza, uncovering artifacts from past life and collecting charcoal samples for dating. All material remains were cleaned, processed, and analyzed in a laboratory.
This structure was built approximately 100 years before the Great Pyramids of Egypt and around the same time as Stonehenge, says Toohey. These dates indicate the circular plaza of Callacpuma is the earliest known example of monumental and megalithic architecture in the Cajamarca valley, and one of the earliest in ancient Peru.
It was probably a place of gathering and ceremony for some of the earliest people living in this part of the Cajamarca valley, Toohey adds. These people mostly lived through hunting and gathering and had only recently begun cultivating crops and domesticating animals. The plaza consists of two concentric walls measuring around 18 meters in diameter.
Led by Toohey and Patricia Chirinos Ogata of the University of California-Santa Barbara, the project team also includes Murphy as well as Peruvian and American university students and postgraduates.
As part of outreach to the local community, they collaborate with residents near the Callacpuma site on research findings and cultural heritage importance. Working together, further scientific investigations and site preservation can continue.
Sources
University of Wyoming | Jason L. Toohey et al. ,A monumental stone plaza at 4750 B.P. in the Cajamarca Valley of Peru. Sci. Adv. 10, eadl0572(2024). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adl0572
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