What were the ancient temples in Peru used for?

[wolram]

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18144

Ancient Temple in Lambayeque Department, Peru.
Cerro Ventarron is a natural hill containing multiple adobe ceremonial sites that were built and used over several millennium. Artwork found in one 4000 year old adobe "pyramid" is believed to be the oldest example of a painted mural in the New World.

Despite the simplicity of the building techniques, dried mud without stone, gravel, or straw filler, the building was decorated with red and white exterior paint and internal rooms contain polychrome murals adjacent to a fire-blackened altar/chimney.
The culture that created it predates the famous Sipan culture of the same area by over a thousand years.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Fantastic! I'm heading to Peru next month. Maybe I can get some first hand input from the locals!

 

[ViewsofMars]

Lastest news from the Trenches of Peru:

Archaeological Institute of America
World Roundup Volume 62 Number 4, July/August 2009
by Samir S. Patel

PERU: At the base of a mud-brick pyramid, excavators
opened the spectacular 1,500-year-old tomb of a Moche
elite the locals have dubbed "Lord of Ucupe." Clad in
two funerary masks, a necklace of silver medallions,
and a tunic and train of metallic plates, he was buried
with 19 headdresses or crowns, on a bed of war clubs.
The grave, which held two other men and a pregnant woman,
marks the transition between the Early and Middle Moche
periods.
http://www.archaeology.org/0907/trenches/world.html

I love to go digging! I'm sure you'll have a fantastic trip Greg.
I'm heading to Costa Rica.

 

[turbo]

Lastest news from the Trenches of Peru:



I love to go digging! I'm sure you'll have a fantastic trip Greg.
I'm heading to Costa Rica.

Wow! That burial site was one heck of a find! I'm lucky to find an arrow-head now and again.

 

[ViewsofMars]

Hi Turbo Digging is fun and exhausting. Notice from the link (url) I provided that was from Archaeological Institute of America, World Roundup Volume 62 Number 4, July/August 2009:

KENYA: Paleoanthropologists have discovered the earliest evidence of stone blades--sophisticated tools once thought to have been made only by modern humans and Neanderthals--dating to 500,000 years ago. This pushes their development back by 150,000 years, raising the question of which pre-human species made them and suggesting the technology predates the evolutionary split of humans and Neanderthals.

AWESOME NEWS!

My first digging began along beaches. I have a collection of rare shells, etc that span over 40 years. Sure can't be found any longer along any beaches I've been to. The cutest and one of my favorite "finds" was a little coin purse with change in it. Lot's of old pennies.

 

[turbo]

My best find was a pale blue and tan spear point in perfect shape. I found it while walking along Mobile beach after a storm. I bought a sandwich and was eating it and taking a walk to stretch my legs after hours of driving. I gave it to a friend for his birthday.

 

[ViewsofMars]

Turbo, you were very kind to give it to your friend.

Here is something I saw that might be interesting for those visiting Peru or interested in the scientific contributions made by people from Peru who lived long ago. On April 22, 2007 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center took an image of Chankillo Observatory, Peru.

About 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Lima, Peru, lies an enigmatic, 2,300-year-old ruin named Chankillo. Archaeologists have nicknamed the ruin’s central complex the “Norelco ruin” based on its resemblance to a modern electric shaver. The building’s true purpose long eluded them. Its thick walls and hilltop location suggested it was a fort, but why, researchers wondered, would anybody build a fort with so many gates and without a water source? Then in March 2007, two researchers, Ivan Ghezzi and Clive Ruggles, offered an explanation for the complex: at least part of it was a solar observatory.

GeoEye’s IKONOS sensor captured this image of Chankillo on January 13, 2002, and this picture shows the features the archaeologists studied to infer the site’s purpose. The central complex appears in the upper left with its concentric rings of fortified walls. Southeast of the central complex are the Thirteen Towers, which vaguely resemble a slightly curved spine. On either side of the towers are observing points (little is left of the eastern observation structure), and south of the eastern observing point is another building complex, apparently used in part for food storage. Although the dark shapes in the northeast seem like rock outcrops, the higher-resolution image reveals they are probably trees.

The Thirteen Towers were the key to the scientists conclusion that the site was a solar observatory. These regularly spaced towers line up along a hill, separated by about 5 meters (16 feet). The towers are easily seen from Chankillo’s central complex, but the views of these towers from the eastern and western observing points are especially illuminating. These viewpoints are situated so that, on the winter and summer solstices, the sunrises and sunsets line up with the towers at either end of the line. Other solar events, such as the rising and setting of the Sun at the mid-points between the solstices, were aligned with different towers.

Why did the ancient inhabitants of this region cultivate such a thorough understanding of solar cycles? In addition to potential ceremonial purposes, the observatory may have had practical uses as well. In Peru's dry coastal reason, precipitation is seasonal, so a reliable solar calendar would help determine the optimal time to plant crops.

Further reading:
Mann, C. C. (2007). Mystery Towers in Peru Are an Ancient Solar Calendar. Science. 315: 1206-1207.
Ghezzi, I., and Ruggles, C. (2007). Chankillo: A 2300-Year-Old Solar Observatory in Coastal Peru. Science. 315: 1239-1243.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=7606
Image: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/7000/7606/chankillo_iko_2002013_lrg.jpg

 

[turbo]

Nice link!

 

[turbo]

Turbo, you were very kind to give it to your friend.

He already had a large collection of flint tips from Maine, collected by his grandfather, and great-grandfather many years ago. I figured that such a beautiful specimen should be the crown of a larger collection, not just a curiosity on my shelf. He was pretty happy.

 

[ViewsofMars]

It's been a while since I last posted to this topic but couldn't resist mentioning that the March 2010 of National Geographic magazine has a very intriguing and informative, eight page article with pictures that I highly recommend. Spirits in the Sand - The ancient Nasca lines of Peru shed their secrets by Stephen S. Hall.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/nasca/hall-text/1

Turbo1, we never did get a report back from Greg Bernhardt how he liked his trip to Peru. Perhaps he would like to share with us and new comers to Physics Forums some of the highlights of it?

I just found out that one of my sea shells is worth over $2,000 . I've only collected over a thousand sea shells in my lifetime.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Turbo1, we never did get a report back from Greg Bernhardt how he liked his trip to Peru. Perhaps he would like to share with us and new comers to Physics Forums some of the highlights of it?

It was amazing. Cuzco and the whole sacred valley was great. MP gave me chills. One of my favorite places!

 

[Evo]

It's been a while since I last posted to this topic but couldn't resist mentioning that the March 2010 of National Geographic magazine has a very intriguing and informative, eight page article with pictures that I highly recommend. Spirits in the Sand - The ancient Nasca lines of Peru shed their secrets by Stephen S. Hall.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/03/nasca/hall-text/1

I saw a recent documentary on that.

I just found out that one of my sea shells is worth over $2,000 .

Wow! That's awesome!

 

[turbo]

It was amazing. Cuzco and the whole sacred valley was great. MP gave me chills. One of my favorite places!

Great photos. I'd love to see that area, as much for the rugged mountains as for the architecture.

 

[ViewsofMars]

It was amazing. Cuzco and the whole sacred valley was great. MP gave me chills. One of my favorite places!

Greg, those are absolutely stunning photos. Good looking man there and Machupicchu
is breathtaking.

Since I'm fond of hummingbirds I noted that there are more than a few in Peru. HUMMINGBIRDS of the Madre de Dios watershed, Perú
Joseph A. Tobias, Philip Koch, Chris Merkord
Asociación para la Conservación de la Cuenca Amazónica / Amazon Conservation Association
http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/plantguides/guide_pdfs/230 Hummingbirds MdD.pdf

I think I've seen this one in my backyard.
22 Lophornis chalybeus chalybeus

I was provided additional insight in the advancement Peru – the GPR archaeological surveys done in Peru
http://www.geo-radar.pl/en/offer/research/archeology/peru/index.htm

The usage of GPR [Ground Penetrating Rador -An impulse GPR is a precise radio- transceiving gage device using electromagnetic waves. While one antenna sends out discontinuous sine signal one and half interval length long, the second identical antenna installed right next to the first one, receives reflected signals which are delayed to related beamed signals from about tens up to a few thousand nanoseconds. ] allows for quick and very precise archaeological surveys. Owing to the application of three-dimensional technology, it is possible to create time slices, that is horizontal sections from any depths.

The GPR is a very sensitive apparatus - using the phenomenon of pulse reflection on physical boundaries differentiated by values of the constant dielectric and electric conductivity. The higher the contrast between the velocity of wave propagation in the surrounding centre, the clearer readout we will obtain. Thus, it is possible to find not only metal objects, but also wooden, stone or clay objects in the ground.
http://www.geo-radar.pl/en/offer/research/archeology/index.htm

Evo, it is good news about my shell. I thrilled and in the process of making a display case for my collection.

I was curious about seashells from Peru so went digging (research) on the Internet for information.

The Brooklyn Museum of Art’s collection also includes early objects from northern and central Peru in a variety of media, with two pieces in particular standing out. The Chavin style conch is fascinating for the delicacy of its carving and for its imagery. The conch displays a humanoid figure surrounded by several serpent elements and faces in profile. The central figure holds a conch similar to the one on which he is carved near his lips as if he were blowing into it.

The Brooklyn Museum of Art’s collection also includes early objects from northern and central Peru in a variety of media, with two pieces in particular standing out. The Chavin style conch is fascinating for the delicacy of its carving and for its imagery. The conch displays a humanoid figure surrounded by several serpent elements and faces in profile. The central figure holds a conch similar to the one on which he is carved near his lips as if he were blowing into it.
http://www.rumbosonline.com/articles/15-88-gallerybrooklyn.htm

www.rumbosonline.com/images/issue15/15-88-15.jpg[/URL]

I'm heading out today to go sailing. Have a beautiful day everyone.