First settled around A.D. 200,
Pachacamac became one of the longest
continuously inhabited urban centers
in the Andes, enduring and even
thriving under various cultures for
some 1,300 years. Named for the
creator god Pachacamac, the site
drew pilgrims who came to worship
and to bury their dead. Overtaken by
the Inca around 1470, it was one of
the most sacred places in their
empire until the Spanish conquest in
the 1530s.
When archaeologists began exploring
the site in the 1890s they found a
vast complex of monumental buildings
and looted burials. At its heart
lies an enigma: 18 mud-brick stepped
pyramids with ramps and plazas.
This pre-Columbian monumental site
covers an area of almost 600
hectares. It lies at the mouth of
the Lurín River, close to the
Pacific shore, some 30 km south of
Lima and is considered to be one of
the most important ancient
settlements of the Central Andes, on
a par with Machu Picchu, Tiahuanaco,
Chavín de Huantar, Chan Chan and the
Nazca Lines. |
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 The complex and extensive site (an
estimated 5 km2 including a ca. 2.5 km2 core area) of
Pachacamac on the central coast of Peru has long been
regarded as the preeminent religious and/or pilgrimage
center of pre-Hispanic Peru. The fame and power of its
oracle and ancient temples, together with myths
pertaining to its dualistic, telurian, patron deity, “Pachacamac,”
have been described by both Spanish Colonial writers and
modern scholars. This deity is said to have had the
power, on the one hand, to create and sustain humans,
nurture crops, and cure disease, and, on the other hand,
to cause earthquakes, storms in the Pacific, and
disease. In his 1534 report, Miguel Estete, for example,
noted that many pilgrims from far and wide came there to
pay respects, consult, and/or make offerings to the
oracle at the Pachacamac (aka Painted) Temple in the
innermost (westernmost) sacred precinct. Pedro Cieza de
León (1553) and Pedro de la Gasca (1553) described how
this sanctuary was surrounded by shelters for pilgrims
and the tombs of noblemen and priests, who wished to be
buried close to the deity they had worshipped.
The site of Pachacamac is organized into four major
sectors by three concentric major walls (See the
black and white map above right).
The most sacred and apparently
oldest sector (I) occupies the
southernmost and highest area with
an excellent view of the Pacific.
Its perimeter wall encloses a
roughly trapezoidal area (ca. 470 m
x 400 m) containing (a) the Temple
of the Sun of the Inca empire, (b) the Pachacamac Temple (a.k.a. Painted
Temple) of the Pachacamac II culture, and (c) the Old Pachacamac Temple (a.k.a.
Lima Temple) of the Wari-influenced Pachacamac I culture
and preceding late Lima culture. Another late Lima temple is
believed to lie beneath the Sun Temple. The Lima constructions utilize
"adobitos" or small hand-shaped adobes.
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The
Pachacama complex is approximately
1,500 years old |
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A wooden mask from
Pachacamac - possibly used by
supplicants to the shrines of
Pachacamac |
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Pachacamac Tomb |
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Pachacamac
is situated about half a kilometer
from the Pacific Ocean, on the right
bank of the Lurín river, close to
its mouth. Permanent occupation at
the site probably began during the
Early Intermediate Period
(200BC-AD550). |
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At
that time the lower Rímac and Lurín valleys were
under the dominion of a stratified
polity whose centee was situated in
the Rímac valley. The Lima culture,
as it is known, was characterized by
a specific ceramic style and huge
adobe-made platform mounds. Lima
buildings at Pachacamac include the
Old Temple of Pachacamac, a small
building called the “Conjunto de
adobitos”, other platform mounds and
cemeteries. |
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click map above to display PDF
version of map
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The
Pachacama complex is approximately
1,500 years old |
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The Peruvian
Lost City Of Pachacamac
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