In 1911, explorer Hiram Bingham stumbled across Machu Picchu while exploring Peru and rediscovered the 500-year-old forgotten city. Military and commercial pilots flying over the southern part of the country in the mid-20s were the first modern humans to see the majestic Nazca Lines thanks to the dawn of flight.
These two are crucial to Peruvian archaeological sites around the world. Due to their impressive iconic size and splendor, they have even been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, there are many other fascinating historical sites in Peru that are less popular with tourists. These include the Kasma Line, the Chanquillo Temple Fortress, the Lima Terrain and the Piquillacta, one of the most important archaeological complexes in the world.
While not as popular with tourists, these other archaeological sites are just as mysterious, awe-inspiring, and built on such a scale that modern architects and engineers are fascinated by how ancient Peruvians made it possible.
Although not as impressive as the Nazca Lines, the discovery of the Kasma Lines suggests that the area was at one time an important social and administrative center, with Sechin Alto the centerpiece of a large architectural complex built more than 1,000 years before the Egyptian pyramids. Although its exact purpose is unknown, evidence suggests that Sechin Alto may have been a medical or surgical center based on a large number of stone carvings depicting body organs.
Chanquillo, on the other hand, is another monumental structure in the coastal desert of Peru. It consists of a fortress and an observatory said to be marked by thirteen towers. These are a series of granite towers between 2 and 7 meters high, spaced exactly 5 meters apart, and date from around the 4th century BC. from.
On the eastern outskirts of the bustling capital, Lima, a plane accidentally spotted the landmark of Canto Grande. Unfortunately, rapid urban construction and industrialization have destroyed most of these GIs, the rest are at a higher level. They consist of a ladder, a huge rectangular strip 135 meters long, interspersed with individual or combinations of large stones. Although using the same construction method as the Nazca Lines, these geographic symbols were created 2,000 years before Nazca. Although great effort was put into the construction of these structures, their main purpose has not yet been clarified.
Finally, no trip to Peru should miss Piquillacta near Cusco. Constructed around 800 AD by the mysterious Wari, it can only be truly appreciated from above. Although the building was built in an area with vastly different altitudes, its builders still designed it to perfection. It contains more than 700 rooms that were built precisely next to each other using granite and the extra labor and materials equivalent to building the Great Pyramid.
Apart from Machu Picchu, Peru does have a wealth of ancient sites. Hopefully there will be continued archaeological work to study and unravel its mysteries.
Directed by: Igor Aleksejev
