PERU TIMELINE
Caral: The Most Ancient City of the Americas and its Striking Ancient Pyramids   Toured In 2017

Bandurria

Bandurria is a large archaeological site on the Huaura River in Peru going back to 4000 BC

Sechin Bajo

 

Ancient Ceremonial Plaza found in Peru - Sechin Bajo 

 

Sechin Bajo is a large archaeological site with ruins dating from 3500 BC making it not only one of the oldest centers of civilization in the Western Hemisphere but also one of the oldest civilization centers on earth

Archeologists find 5,500-year-old plaza in Peru

From 2008

 A view of the ruins of Sechin Bajo, that was built 5,500 years ago, after it was discovered in Casma in this February 2008 file photo. Archeologists involved in the dig said on Monday carbon dating shows it is one of the oldest structures ever found in the Americas. A team of Peruvian and German archeologists uncovered the plaza, which was hidden beneath another piece of architecture at the ruins known as Sechin Bajo, in Casma, 229 miles north of Lima, the capital.

Sechin Alto The Sechin Alto complex is five times the size of Caral, one of the largest Archaic sites in Peru.

 

Cerro Sechin

 

 

Cerro Sechin reviews

"All of these reviews are actually talking about Cerro Sechin, not Sechin Bajo. Sechin Bajo is an interesting site archaeologically, but not much to visit. Cerro Sechin is one of the great archaeological monuments of Peru. This is where you find the extraordinary carved figures in bas relief representing the sometimes gory results of warfare, including parts of the defeated as well as the impressive full figures of victorious warriors. Cerro Sechin is easy to reach from the highway or by quick cab ride from Casma. There is a small museum and picnic area adjacent to the incomparable ruins"

 

 Cerro Sechin article - The Met
Cerro Sechín: Stone Sculpture  
 
Mojeque or Pampas de las Llamas  

 Huaricanga

Norte Chico city

Huaricanga is the earliest city of the Norte Chico civilization aka Caral-Supe. It existed around 3500 BC and was the oldest city in the Americas and one of the earliest cities in the world.

Huaricanga Archaeological Research Project

Proyecto Arqueológico Norte Chico

To date 24 major Late Archaic sites have been located in the Norte Chico, all ranging from 10 to 200 hectares in area, all with monumental and/or large-scale communal architecture and all lacking ceramics. Moseley calls this "the largest concatenation of prepottery architectural monuments in the continent"
Huaricanga - Ritual is Power
An Exploration of Ceremonial Architecture at Huaricanga
 
Casma–Sechin culture

The Casma–Sechin culture c. 3600 BC – 200 BC of Peru refers to the large concentration of pre-historic ruins in the valleys of the Casma River and its tributary the Sechin River and along the nearby coast of the Pacific Ocean. The ruins include major archaeological sites such as Sechin Bajo, Sechin Alto, Cerro Sechin, Mojeque, Chankillo and Taukachi-Konkan as well as other smaller sites.  

A frieze located at Sechin Bajo dated at 3600 BC is the oldest example of monumental architecture discovered thus far in the Americas. This date, if confirmed by additional discoveries, means that the Casma-Sechin culture may have originated as early or earlier than the Caral-Supe civilization, currently considered the oldest civilization of the Americas.

Mojeque  
Andean Preceramic  
Zana Valley Canals Earliest stone-lined canals date from 4500 BC and as early as 6700 BC. Accelerated Mass Spectrometer dated olded to 6705 BC plus or minus 75 years

Chankillo - South America's Stonehenge

 

Chanquillo

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Towers point to ancient Sun cult (2007)

  

The Thirteen Towers have been interpreted as an astronomical observatory built in the 4th century BC

The Thirteen Towers solar observatory

The regularly-spaced thirteen towers of Chankillo were constructed atop the ridge of a low hill running near north to south, forming a "toothed" horizon with narrow gaps at regular intervals. To the east and west investigators designated two possible observation points. From these vantages, the 300 meter long spread of the towers along the horizon corresponds very closely to the rising and setting positions of the sun over the year, albeit they are not all visible. On the winter solstice, the sun would rise behind the leftmost tower of Chankillo and rise behind each of the towers until it reached the rightmost tower six months later on the summer solstice, marking the passage of time. The Thirteen Towers of Chankillo could be the earliest known observatory in the Americas. Inhabitants of Chankillo would have been able to determine an accurate date, with an error of a day or two, by observing the sunrise or sunset from the correct tower. A contemporary site in Chincha Valley, Peru, of the late Paracas culture, which also marked the solstice, has recently been examined.

The towers had been known to travellers for 200 years but were not determined to be an astronomical site until 2007 by Iván Ghezzi and Clive Ruggles.

Sipan

Lord of Sipan

 Near Zana Valley
Museo Tumbas Reales de Sípan in Lambayeque Royal Tombs of Sipán Museum

 

Brüning Museum in Lambayeque

 
Inside the Brüning Museum in Lambayeque  
List of oldest buildings in the Americas
 Researchers find maize in diets of people in coastal Peru dates to 5,000 years ago  

'Oldest religious icon in Americas'

Staff god

The fragment of a bowl dated to about 4,000 years ago bears the image of the Staff God, the main deity in the Andes for thousands of years.

The figure was found at a looted cemetery on the coast of Peru, 120 miles north of Lima.

The area appears to have been the ancestral home of pre-Inca civilisation.

 

 

BOLIVIA TIMELINE

Lost Cities of the Amazon Discovered From the Air

Smithsonian Magazine, 2022

 

A 3D animation created using data from LiDAR shows the urban center of Cotoca

Mapping technology cut through the canopy to detect sprawling urban structures in Bolivia that suggest sophisticated cultures once existed

 Revealing Ancient Bolivia  
 Ancient City of Tiwanaku and the Akapana Pyramid  Toured In 2017
Tiwanaku: Pre-Incan Civilization In The Andes  
 

 

Researchers find the earliest evidence of domesticated maize   In Mexico

The Origin of Cultivation and Proto-Weeds, Long Before Neolithic Farming