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A ceremonial centre now considered as the most ancient solar observatory in America.
It's located at the Casma desert in the Áncash region (Peru), 226.8 miles North Lima and 3.72 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Between the temple and the ocean, the Mongón Hills function as a natural barrier for mist, which partially explains the extraordinary visibility from the observatory.
The place is a fortress with three concentric walls, from where it's possible to appreciate iguana-shaped turrets on the horizon. Each tower has embedded staircases taking to the cusps and, if observed from below, they form a kind of an artificial "dentated" horizon. The towers are between 79" and 236" high, of a cubic form, aligned from North to South, and are considered to be horizon markers.
As it happens with other architectonic patterns based on astronomic alignments, the landscape has been used to measure time, which is known as "landscape clockmarking". But Chanquillo stands out among other complexes around the world because it indicates several points of alignments: equinoxes, solstices and other specific dates! On December 21st in the Southern Hemisphere, the Sun rises from the last tower in the right extreme, whereas in the following solstice in December it raises again to the left side of the last tower in the left extreme. During the six intermediate months, the Sun seems to move from one extreme towards the other one, and each time it shows up in the empty spaces between the towers, it indicates other calendar dates, with an accuracy of two or three days!
The place was populated by an unknown culture between 500 and 200 b.C., more than 2200 years ago, before Inca and Moche cultures were present at those locations. Although it's not known who they were, researches indicate that the place was attacked by rival cults and survived until the year 200 a.C. The Peruvian archaeologist Ivan Ghezzi and the British archeoastronomist Clive Ruggles had studied in detail the fortress-temple and are still researching the characteristics and circumstances in which this pioneering culture developed the observatory.
In 2021, the place was included in the Unesco's World Heritage List. The following video is a virtual tour across the whole architectonic complex from two artificial points of observation, including simulations of sunrises and sunsets all over the year!
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