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<< Text Pages >> Sechin Bajo - Ancient Palace in Peru

Submitted by bat400 on Saturday, 01 March 2008  Page Views: 13856

Multi-periodSite Name: Sechin Bajo
Country: Peru Type: Ancient Palace
Nearest Town: Casma, Peru
Latitude: 9.4647S  Longitude: 78.265W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4
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Ancient Building Complex in Ancash Region, Peru.
Sechin Bajo is a large mound topped by a large building complex in the Casma Valley. The complex dates to what has been generally designated as the Initial or Formative Period, (4000 to 2800 years ago) of Peruvian society and monumental architecture is characterized by pyramid mounds of stone, adobe brick and various earthen fill, often topped by structures with a complex of multiple rooms and stairways.

The main site of Sechin Bajo is a platform mound 180 x 120 m, 18m high. This is topped by a stone, adobe brick and clay building, the main floor having interior walls nearly 3 m high. Portions of this building date to a much later period than portions of the mound itself. Excavations of portions of the complex have revealed what are likely multiple usage over an extended period of time, including burials. Unlike other sites in the Casma Valley, the building decoration found so far is a wall frieze of rough "graffiti" incised into a clay wall (dated to 3300 years ago).

The site appears to have been in use as a communal center many years before the partially excavated building. Recent discovery of a circular plaza dating back 5500 years puts the Casma Valley as possibly the oldest "urban" area in the Americas, predating the monuments of the Caral Supe Valley.

A website of Archeo Contract, a German firm associated with joint Peruvian German projects in the Casma Valley, describes the complex and basic information from surveys and excavations of the last 15 years, including photographs of the site.

Note: 5500 year old Plaza oldest "urban" site in Americas. Found buried beneath monumental buildings created over a period of 2000 years.
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Nearby Images from Flickr
Templo Arqueologico Sechin, Perú
Templo Arqueologico Sechin, Perú
Templo Arqueologico Sechin, Perú
Templo Arqueologico Sechin, Perú
Templo Arqueologico Sechin, Perú
Templo Arqueologico Sechin, Perú

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 1.8km ENE 58° Taukachi-Konkan Ancient Village or Settlement
 1.9km SSE 160° Cerro Sechin* Ancient Temple
 2.5km E 92° Sechin Alto Ancient Village or Settlement
 6.3km SE 132° Pampa de Las Llamas - Moxeque Ancient Village or Settlement
 8.0km SSE 163° La Cantina Ancient Village or Settlement
 10.7km SSE 163° Chankillo Fortress* Ancient Temple
 11.5km SSE 159° Chankillo - 13 Towers* Ancient Temple
 14.5km NE 44° Huerequeque Ancient Village or Settlement
 26.5km S 187° Las Aldas Ancient Village or Settlement
 27.6km NW 322° Huambacho Ancient Village or Settlement
 30.7km ESE 105° Pallka Ancient Village or Settlement
 40.1km NNE 14° Siete Huaca* Ancient Village or Settlement
 67.6km ENE 64° Guitarrero Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter
 68.1km SSE 167° El Castillo de Huarmey* Pyramid / Mastaba
 68.5km NE 46° Tumshukayko* Ancient Village or Settlement
 81.0km E 95° Museo Regional de Áncash Museum
 82.7km E 91° Willkawain* Chambered Tomb
 83.2km E 92° Ichik Willkawain* Chambered Tomb
 111.2km N 6° La Galgada Pyramid / Mastaba
 120.0km E 97° ChavĂ­n de Huantar* Ancient Village or Settlement
 121.5km SSE 150° Shaura Ancient Village or Settlement
 121.7km SSE 151° Cerro de la Cruz Ancient Village or Settlement
 122.2km ESE 113° Pastoruri Road Rock Art
 127.7km SSE 154° Huaricanga Artificial Mound
 136.6km SSE 157° Caballete Ancient Village or Settlement
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"Sechin Bajo" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Sechin Bajo by bat400 on Saturday, 01 March 2008
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Flash Earth satellite views reveal the Casma Valley to be loaded with ancient sites. I'll add several of the largest in the next few days.
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Plaza in Peru May be America's oldest urban site by bat400 on Saturday, 01 March 2008
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Submitted by coldrum and bat400

February 26, 2008
LIMA, PERU -- An ancient stone plaza unearthed in Peru dates back more than five millenniums and is the oldest known urban settlement in the Americas, according to experts here.

Archaeologists say the site, uncovered amid a complex of ruins known as Sechin Bajo, is a major discovery that could help reshape their understanding of the continent's pre-Columbian history.

Carbon dating by a German and Peruvian excavation team indicates that the circular plaza is at least 5,500 years old, dating to about 3,500 BC, said Cesar Perez, an archaeologist at Peru's National Institute of Culture who supervised the dig.

That would make it older than the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Sechin Bajo, 230 miles north of the capital, Lima, thus eclipses the ancient Peruvian citadel of Caral, some 5,000 years old, as the New World's oldest known settlement.

"This has tremendous importance, both in Peru and internationally," Perez said by cellphone from the area. "We think it's the oldest urban site found in the Americas."

Word of the discovery was first published Sunday in the Peruvian daily El Comercio.

"The findings in Sechin Bajo, especially in the buried circular plaza, have demonstrated that there is construction from 5,500 years ago," Peter R. Fuchs, a German archaeologist who worked at the site, told the newspaper. "Whoever built Sechin Bajo had a good knowledge of architecture and construction."

Much of the hidden plaza was uncovered this year, and a great deal of excavation remains to be done, Perez said. Relatively little is known about the people who lived there.

The plaza, 33 to 39 feet across, may have been a site for gatherings, perhaps a kind of ceremonial center. It was built of rocks and adobe bricks.

Successive cultures lived in the area and built over the site.

Earlier finds in the Sechin Bajo area, in the Casma Valley of Peru's Ancash region, had been dated at more than 3,000 years old. But the circular plaza pushes the area's settlement date back considerably.

For more, see the Reuters article, including a photograph.
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