At first glance, the coast of Peru looks like a dusty, almost Martian desert, but its rich river valleys hold a wealth of archaeology from a series of advanced pre-Columbian cultures which also pre-date Inca rule. There’s nothing that Jess loves more than dragging Alex around dusty ruins to look at pyramids and pots and that’s just what we did as we explored the pre-Colombian coastal cultures of Peru.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the sites and museums that Peru has to offer, it’s only what we managed to visit, with the time that we had. We think we gave it a good go though! If Alex hadn’t forced Jess to leave she’d probably still be there digging holes in the sand like a cat…

Lima area

Huaca Pucllana – Lima culture

There’s not really any excuse not to visit the Huaca Pucllana as it is slap bang in the centre of Miraflores, one of the most popular districts of urban Lima. A huaca is another word for a revered natural object regarded to have a spirit, in the ancient world huacas could be anything from a man-made ceremonial adobe pyramid like this one, to a notable rock in the road.

The huaca makes an interesting (guided only) visit during the day, but it is also really special and romantic at night as there is a good quality bar and restaurant which look on to the beautifully lit pyramid…and what’s better than pisco sour after a hard day looking around dusty ruins in unbearable heat?!

Pachacamac – used by various cultures and the Incas

Pachacamac is a temple complex including a Mamacone enclosure (Virgins of the Sun compound) 40km south of Lima in the Lurin Valley, easily reached as a half day trip. The complex is dedicated to the creator God who was later absorbed into the Inca pantheon. It’s under excavated so in reality it would have been a really quite large walled ceremonial city. Sadly there is even part of the modern-day city built on a large pyramid mound.

The pyramids and graves have also been heavily looted, evidenced by the pot holes and bones strewn over the desert, and damaged during the Spanish conquest and El Niño weather events.

When we visited the site was preparing to open a museum which will certainly add to the experience, as at present a guided tour is the only way to understand the ruins (be careful as our guide almost tried to convert us to fundamentalist Christianity!).

Southern Peru

Paracas Candelabra – Paracas culture

This prehistoric geoglyph, resembling a candelabra or more likely a tree, is cut some 2ft into the soil and is best seen from the ocean. It is attributed to the Paracas culture due to pottery found nearby. The landscape here is really something else; the cobalt ocean meeting the red dusty Martian landscape where the glyph is carved.

Nazca Lines – Nazca culture

The pre-Columbian geoglyphs commonly known as the Nazca lines are one of those great mysteries of the world that will probably never be fully explained (unless the aliens come back, haha!).

The lines, numbering some 10,000 cover a massive area of nearly 1000 Kmsq. Each line can be up to 30m wide and 9km long!!! 300 of the lines form figures of animals and plants and the lines were made simply by the displacement of rocks to either side. Those figures and measurements are pretty hard to imagine, so their size and the area that they cover are best appreciated from the air. The lines are also visible also from hilltops although it is not easy to access the land on which the lines are drawn as it is heavily protected.

There is much speculation regarding the purpose of the lines with theories such as aliens or astrological (see the extensive work of German archaeologist Maria Reich) coordinates being the most sensational. The most sensible theories seem to focus on the lines as being radial routes to important places of worship or as being maps of underground water sources. There is also evidence that people dutifully walked the lines as part of their ceremonial lives. In terms of the animals and plants, there is a strong correlation between the styles found on Nazca culture pottery, suggesting that the lines may also have been an ambitious art form.

Northern Peru

Around the beautifully preserved colonial city of Trujillo can be found several important pre-Colombian archaeological sites.

Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna, Moche valley – Moche culture

Easily reached on a half day trip from Trujillo, the Moche Valley holds two huge adobe brick huacas belonging to the Moche culture, who were masters of hydraulic engineering. These Huacas were the political, military, ceremonial and religious centres of the culture and also served as the burial chambers of the elite. There is also much archaeological evidence for human sacrifice in the Huaca de la Luna and many depictions of a friendly sounding god called the Decapitator God. As is typical of these cultures, the huacas are built on top of earlier versions of themselves. This is excellent news for archaeologists as they can peel back the layers of history like an onion.

The Huaca del la Luna is open for visitors, but the Huaca del Sol was heavily damaged when the conquistadors diverted the river Moche to erode the structure. Of course they were looking for material wealth that they could loot. Subsequent looting and erosion from El Niño weather events have further damaged the structure.

The highlight of your visit will be to see the ceremonial courtyard at the Huaca de la Luna where the most notable murals survive, including one small but intricate depiction of the Mochica calendar. There is also an excellent museum not far from the huacas which is an oasis from the desert heat and contains many artefacts which were excavated from the site.

El Brujo complex and Señora de Cao – Moche culture

About an hour north from Trujillo, this Moche site contains very similar iconography to the Huacas del Sol and de la Luna in the Moche valley and includes another Mochica calendar depiction. What makes it worth visiting is the tomb of the important female ruler which has been excavated here.

The drive takes you through some interesting scenery; firstly the outskirts of Trujillo which are dusty, industrial and sometimes just a dumping ground for rubbish. You then enter a fertile river valley where sugar cane is being grown. Along the way we observed that much of the land is protected and there is evidence of adobe pyramids even by the side of the road.

At the site, you can walk around the pyramid and then enter the small but informative museum. The highlight is the last room where the burial and body of the Señora de Cao is displayed. You can see the amazing finery with which she was buried such as necklaces, nose rings, crowns, clubs and clothing as well as the tattoos on her skin of snakes and spiders.

Chan Chan – Chimú culture

Chan Chan is the largest pre-Colombian city ever found in South America. Unfortunately it’s not very easy to understand this as the desert, time, weather, looters, dumping and development have all had their impact. The Chimú were conquered by the Inca and from this point on their great city began to decline.

Chan Chan can be visited from Trujillo or from a seaside and surf town called Huanchaco a little further north. It’s a very hot walk around the ruins and it’s a good idea to get a guide so that you can understand what you are looking at. Most notable are the grand courtyards with repetitive geometric figures of animals (mostly sea creatures and mammals) and a large reservoir.

The museum of Chan Chan, further down the road towards Trujillo is small, dated and not very interesting. Not worth visiting a present, it is better to pay for a guide at the site.

Arco Iris, also known as Huaca del Dragon (rainbow or dragon) – Chimú culture

This is just one temple surrounded by a large defensive wall. It’s in the outskirts of Trujillo in a suburb called La Esperanza, and it took our taxi driver a while to find it (we were probably the first tourists of the millennia)! It is worth a visit for the extraordinary repetitive friezes which appear to represent a dragon and a rainbow. The rainbow is commonly associated with fertility and 2 ‘dragons’ appear, probably representing duality in the form of male and female. For this reason the huaca was likely to have been a fertility temple.

Senor de Sipan – Moche culture

Near to the decidedly underwhelming (to say the least!) city of Chiclayo, in a place called Lambayeque, there is a magnificent museum called Tumbas Reales. It contains the burial of the Lord of Sipan and other important burials from the Huaca Rajada in the Lambayeque Valley. We didn’t have time to visit the Huaca, but the museum is absolutely magnificent. Unfortunately, as is usually the case, no pictures are allowed.

The artefacts are really mind-blowing and the museum walks you through each layer of the burial all the way down to the skeleton of the lord. He was buried with his wives, concubines, warriors, a child, dog and a multitude of burial offerings, many made of huge pieces of precious metals, shell and precious stones.

So, perhaps that was a lot to take in?! It probably is; we visited these sites over the course of 3 separate visits to Peru, so it’s unlikely that you’ll have time to do them all at once. The purpose of this post however is to remind people that it’s worth remembering that there is much much more to the ancient cultures of Peru than the relatively recent Incas. It really is surprising what you can find in the seemingly barren and arid coastal areas of this wonderful country, and whilst the ancient cities are all but eroded away and blend into the environment, the climate has facilitated the excellent preservation of artefacts and burials, allowing us a wonderful window into how these advanced civilisations lived and interacted.

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