The LA Times reports the discovery of the oldest celestial observatory yet found in the New World, at the 4200 year-old Buena Vista site, north of Lima, Peru. This "frowning face" marks one of the solstice alignments that have been documented by Bob Benfer of the University of Missouri, atop a pyramid located at the site.
There has been a boom in research in Andean archaeology since the end of the Sendero Luminoso rebellion in Peru and each year brings more exciting discoveries like this one. This site is Preceramic and is one of many that is demonstrating that state-level social organization probably occurred along the Pacific Coast of South America earlier than anywhere else in the New World.
The rich fishery off this coast provided a stable source of food from very early times and allowed permanent occupation of villages much earlier than the advent of agriculture. In fact, it is now theorized that agriculture began in this part of the world with the cultivation of cotton to be spun into twine for use in fishnets. Cultivation of food crops came later.
Look for more discoveries like this soon. Dates for state-level organization will be pushed back and back.
1 comment:
Interesting work. I really like the stone carvings.
I seen another blog called 'Archaeological Evidence Reveals a Great Mormon Lie' that has a lot of cool pictures too.
It totally blew me away. The site is at:
http://mormonarchaeology.blogspot.com/
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