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<< Our Photo Pages >> Chankillo Fortress - Ancient Temple in Peru

Submitted by bat400 on Monday, 02 July 2007  Page Views: 10512

Multi-periodSite Name: Chankillo Fortress Alternative Name: Chanquillo, El Castille
Country: Peru Type: Ancient Temple
Nearest Town: Casma
Latitude: 9.55678S  Longitude: 78.23586W
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
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 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.
2 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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bat400 visited on 3rd Sep 2018 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 2

Andy B have visited here

Chankillo Fortress
Chankillo Fortress submitted by bat400 : The Chankillo hilltop "Fortress" with its concentric walls and the thirteen sighting towers in the valley beyond and to the left in this picture. Photo by bat400. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Temple in Ancash State, Peru

The Fortress of Chankillo, as it was termed by the Spanish, is probably a temple or ritual site, not a fortification. Built in the last days of the Chavin de Huantar culture, the twin circular towers and concentric walls date to around 400-300BC.

However, the site appears to have been used up until the Spanish Conquest and the Spanish recorded that the Inca used the site for sun worship. It lies on a hill within a desert plain. Marked with Ministry of Culture signage on the Pan American Highway, there is a track plowed through the desert sand from the pavement to near the site, but this is silted up with blowing sand and drivers have sorted out their own track. Best visited with a high clearance vehicle and 4 wheel drive.

Note: Another article on Chancillo solar alignment speculates on ancient political motives.
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Chankillo Fortress
Chankillo Fortress submitted by Andy B : Chankillo Fortress in Peru (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Flickr
Carretera a Casma: desvo a Chankillo.
Chankillo: fortaleza.
Chankillo: observatorio astronmico.
Chankillo: Microlophus peruvianus.
Chankillo: Microlophus peruvianus.
Chankillo: Microlophus peruvianus.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 1.1km ESE 118° Chankillo - 13 Towers* Ancient Temple
 2.7km NNW 343° La Cantina Ancient Village or Settlement
 6.2km NNE 14° Pampa de Las Llamas - Moxeque Ancient Village or Settlement
 8.8km NNW 343° Cerro Sechin* Ancient Temple
 10.2km N 356° Sechin Alto Ancient Village or Settlement
 10.7km NNW 343° Sechin Bajo Ancient Palace
 11.3km N 351° Taukachi-Konkan Ancient Village or Settlement
 17.4km SSW 202° Las Aldas Ancient Village or Settlement
 21.8km NNE 18° Huerequeque Ancient Village or Settlement
 26.5km E 85° Pallka Ancient Village or Settlement
 37.9km NNW 328° Huambacho Ancient Village or Settlement
 49.6km N 7° Siete Huaca* Ancient Village or Settlement
 57.4km SSE 168° El Castillo de Huarmey* Pyramid / Mastaba
 70.0km NE 56° Guitarrero Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter
 73.9km NE 39° Tumshukayko* Ancient Village or Settlement
 77.5km E 88° Museo Regional de Áncash Museum
 79.9km E 84° Willkawain* Chambered Tomb
 80.3km E 85° Ichik Willkawain* Chambered Tomb
 111.1km SSE 149° Shaura Ancient Village or Settlement
 111.2km SSE 150° Cerro de la Cruz Ancient Village or Settlement
 115.7km ESE 108° Pastoruri Road Rock Art
 116.0km E 92° Chavín de Huantar* Ancient Village or Settlement
 117.1km SSE 153° Huaricanga Artificial Mound
 121.1km N 4° La Galgada Pyramid / Mastaba
 126.0km SSE 157° Caballete Ancient Village or Settlement
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"Chankillo Fortress" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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The Kings Who Controlled the Sun by bat400 on Monday, 02 July 2007
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Submitted by coldrum ---

For the last hundred years, travelers and explorers in Peru have puzzled over Chankillo, an ancient monument built on a remote desert hilltop 250 miles north of Lima. Dating from about 300 B.C., the ruins—three concentric stone walls that circle a fortress complex and 13 towers on a nearby hill—most likely were built by the Chavin, a pre-Incan civilization of llama tamers, farmers, and traders. Was the well-preserved complex used for military defense, religious ceremonies, or as a gathering place for the wealthy?

By noting the alignment of the towers and their orientation to the sun’s location at sunrise and sunset, Catholic University of Peru archaeologist Ivan Ghezzi has finally solved the mystery: Together, the ruins form the oldest solar observatory in the Americas, he says. From a temple passageway, pre-Peruvians could watch the sun rise beyond the stone towers, which ranged from 6 to 20 feet in height and were spaced precisely to calibrate seasons, weeks, and days according to the changing position of the sun throughout the year.

Such an observatory would have been an indispensable asset for an agricultural community, but the structure was probably more significant as a political tool than as a farmers’ almanac. The Chavin’s ruling class, recognizing that knowledge is power, most likely built the towers to demonstrate their understanding of the sun’s behavior, Ghezzi concludes. By controlling these stone calendars, they appeared to control the sun itself—and thus maintained their power. “If keeping track of time had been the only concern, it could have been done in much simpler ways,” Ghezzi says. “Astronomy and the knowledge that comes with it—the ability to predict the movements of the sun—are things that can have political purposes.” Moreover, the observatory bears a striking resemblance to similar Andean structures still in use nearly 1,800 years later, suggesting that by the time the Incas inhabited this region of Peru, solar astronomy—and its political ramifications—were already ancient knowledge.

Discover Magazine.
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Re: Return of the Sun Cult by davidmorgan on Sunday, 20 May 2007
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I'd like to see a diagram of this.
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Return of the Sun Cult by bat400 on Sunday, 20 May 2007
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Submitted by coldrum --

More on the Chankillo Fortress and 13 Tower alignment.

As archaeologists evaluate whether an ancient temple in Buena Vista, Peru, functioned as a calendar, a different research team is preserving the remains of an unusually elaborate astronomical complex just north, in Chankillo. This solar observatory is considered the oldest in the Americas, dating back to the 4th century B.C., and it offers unique physical evidence that a sun cult inhabited Peru at least 1,500 years before the Incas.

"We have references that Incas practiced solar observation, but none of those sites have been preserved," says the site's lead archaeologist Ivan Ghezzi of Yale University and the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. "We don't have a single one of this complexity."

The Chankillo observatory consists of a row of 13 towers that precisely tracked solar movement throughout the year. When viewed from two main observation points, the sun would have reached one end of the tower line at the winter solstice and the other end at the summer solstice. The regularly spaced gaps between each tower could have been used to divide the year into even shorter intervals of 10 to 12 days.

Ghezzi and his colleagues found one of the main observation points near a pair of courtyards about 220 yards west of the towers. A long white corridor, accessible from one of the courtyards, opened onto a view of the towers. This opening lacked proper structure for affixing a door, which led the researchers to identify it as a clear, unobstructed vantage point. Additionally, pottery and artifacts that could have served as ritualistic offerings surrounded this opening but no others.

The second observation point rests in almost the exact same position due east of the towers. A cluster of patios and buildings, facilities for storing corn beer, a large plaza and ceramic offerings near this spot suggest a festive atmosphere. This observation point likely functioned as the setting for large ceremonies during the solstices, says Ghezzi. The western point probably served a more technical, calendrical purpose.

Restricted entryways guarded each observation point: to the west, it blocked the passage from the courtyard to the corridor; to the east, the room leading to the vantage spot. Ghezzi describes these restrictions as evidence that only a few key members of this society could access these ideal viewing points. Large crowds could see the towers from other areas, but only these observation points offered complete and precise solar information.

For more, see Smithsonian article.
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