Cerro Trinidad
Cerro Trinidad Chancay · El Trinidad Cemetery
Late Intermediate (c.1200–1470 CE) Chancay·Chancay·🇵🇪 Lima, Huaral Province, Chancay Valley, Peru
About
About Cerro Trinidad
Cerro Trinidad is the classic Chancay funerary ridge cemetery in the lower Chancay Valley near Chancay port, Lima. 1200 CE the Chancay culture interred elite bundle burials (fardo) in deep shaft-and-chamber tombs cut into the arid hill, accompanied by famously woven mantles with interlocked tapestry (tapestry slit-weave) bearing stylized hayatapu birds and geometric gauze, gourd vessels, and painted mudbrick mini-shrines. The cemetery's upper platform hosted ancestor veneration plazas overlooking the bay.
Early German and Japanese excavations (Uhle 1904, Kroeber, Onuki) defined the Chancay textile style here; modern campaigns document 800+ burials and the transition to Inca-Chancay ceramics after 1470.
Why it mattersCerro Trinidad is the classic Chancay funerary ridge cemetery in the lower Chancay Valley near Chancay port, Lima. From c.1200 CE the Chancay culture interred elite bundle burials (fardo) in deep shaft-and-chamber tombs cut into the arid hill, accompanied by famously woven mantles with interlocked t Type-site defining regional sequence.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Chronology and phasing of construction
- 02Function of elite vs communal architecture
Theories
- 01Regional capital coordinating irrigation and exchange
- 02Ritual-ceremonial amphitheatre aligned to astronomy
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1200–1470 CE
- Period
- Late Intermediate (c.1200–1470 CE) Chancay
- Culture
- Chancay
- Purpose
- Elite hilltop funerary cemetery with painted textile burials and mud-brick shrines overlooking Chancay Bay
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.1200–1470 CE
Initial construction
c.800–900 CE
Major occupation / refurbishment
c.1000–1532
Late horizon / Inca incorporation where applicable
On the ground
Structures & features
11.5650° S · 77.2650° W · 85 m · 2 mapped features
Summit Funeral Platform (Platform A)
platformMudbrick platform 12×8m with offering pits and painted frieze above shaft tombs
11.5648° S · 77.2649° WShaft Tomb Cluster North (Fardo Sector)
cemeteryConcentration of 2–4m deep shaft tombs with tapestry textile bundles
11.5653° S · 77.2652° W