Archaeologists Discover 5,000-Year-Old Ceremonial Temple Site Beneath Peru Sand Dune

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a ceremonial temple dating back 5,000 years beneath a sand dune in Peru following a nearly month-long excavation.

Knewz.com has learned that the archaeologists have also found the skeletal remains of three adults at the site.

The discovery was made at the Los Paredones de la Otra Banda-Las Ánimas Archaeological Complex in the Zaña Valley in Peru, where a team of archaeologists has been carrying out excavations since June 3.

The team has unearthed two archaeological sites in the region, one of which appears to be the remains of a ceremonial temple around 5,000 years old.

Dr. Luis Armando Muro, an archaeologist from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and the leader of the research , said in a statement shared by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture:

"We are possibly in front of a religious enclosure of five thousand years old that constitutes an architectural space defined by walls. We have what would have been a central staircase from which you would ascend to a kind of stage in the central part." (Translated using Google Translate)

"We are still waiting for radio-carbon dating to confirm the date, but the evidence suggests this religious construction could be part of a religious tradition of temples built on Peru's northern coast during that period," Dr. Muro said in a separate statement, it has been reported .

The team of archaeologists found the skeletal remains of three adults between the walls and bases of the site, which Dr. Muro believes was once a multi-storied structure.

One of the skeletons was accompanied by offerings that could have originally been wrapped in cloth or linen, according to the assumptions made by the Pontifical Catholic University archaeologist.

The Peruvian Ministry of Culture noted that one of the walls of the ancient temple contains a high-relief image of an anthropomorphic figure with the body of a human and the head of a bird.

Archaeologists also found a wall covered in "fine plaster" featuring "a pictorial design" at the top of the remaining ceremonial monument.

The second archaeological site discovered by the team is also believed to be of ceremonial importance, although this structure appears to be relatively newer, dating back to somewhere between 600 and 700 A.D.

This second structure features buttresses and bases standing on a stepped platform. Archaeologists also discovered the grave of a child around five to six years of age at this site, which Dr. Muro believes belongs to the Late Moche culture.

Britannica explains that the Moche is an Andean civilization that flourished from the 1st to the 8th century A.D. on the northern coast of modern-day Peru. The ancient civilization settled along the Northern Peruvian coast from the Lambayeque River valley to the Nepeña River valley.

The ongoing research on the recently discovered archaeological sites – funded by the Pontifical Catholic University and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) – intends to examine their "appearance, evolution and development," and study other similar sites in the Jequetepeque and Lambayeque Valley.

The latest discovery was announced by the Ministry of Culture of Peru in a June 27 press release .