El Paraíso
Chuquitanta · Huaca El Paraíso · El Paraiso Preceramic Complex
Late Preceramic / Cotton Preceramic (3500–1800 BCE)·Andean Late Preceramic (Norte Chico–Chillón tradition, El Paraíso)·🇵🇪 Lima Region (Chillón Valley, San Martín de Porres, 2 km from Pacific), Peru
About
About El Paraíso
Massive Late Preceramic (Cotton Preceramic) mega-complex (3500–1800 BCE, main build 2200 BCE) in lower Chillón Valley, 2 km from Pacific, north of Lima. Largest Preceramic settlement in Peru covering 58 ha with 11 major platforms/pyramids plus courts. Largest pyramid Unit I is 100×100 m base, 10 m high? Actually multi-terrace complex with sunken courts; Unit II is 60×55 m. Discovered 1965 Frédéric Engel who mapped 8 complexes; re-excavated by Jeffrey Quilter (1980s) and Marco Guillén (2012 finding 5,000 BP hearth temple 6.48×8 m with gabled fire altar inside). Threatened by quarry and 2013 arson of Unit X by developer invasion.
Why it mattersLargest Preceramic monumentality in Peru before Caral-Supe; shicra technique links to Norte Chico; hearth temple proves early fire cult.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why 11 pyramids facing different plazas — multiple lineages or astronomical?
Theories
- 01Cotton preceramic model — pyramids built by communal cotton-harvest labour, not coercion (Quilter)
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.3500 BCE early platforms; major pyramids c.2200 BCE
- Period
- Late Preceramic / Cotton Preceramic (3500–1800 BCE)
- Culture
- Andean Late Preceramic (Norte Chico–Chillón tradition, El Paraíso)
- Builders
- Chillón Valley preceramic fisher-farmer chiefdom (cotton and anchovy economy)
- Purpose
- Ceremonial centre controlling Chillón irrigation and Pacific–valley exchange; hearth templete for fire rites
- Abandoned
- c.1800 BCE with dawn ceramics and shift to Initial Period
- Rediscovered
- 1965 Engel surveys 11 structures; 1983 Quilter excavates Unit I; 2012 Guillén finds temple of fire
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.3500 BCE
First low platforms on Chillón floodplain
c.2200 BCE
Major pyramids (Units I, II, X) and courts built with stone-clay shicra bag fill
1965
Engel maps 58 ha complex, names El Paraíso
2012
Guillén discovers 5000-year hearth temple (6.48×8 m) with four-level fire altar
On the ground
Structures & features
11.9539° S · 77.1183° W · 45 m · 3 mapped features
Unit I main pyramid
pyramid100×100 m 3-terrace pyramid with east plaza and hearth temple niche, 10 m high
11.9539° S · 77.1183° WFire temple hearth (5000 BP)
temple6.48×8 m temple with four-level gabled hearth in Unit I annex, plaster floor
11.9535° S · 77.1178° WUnit X western pyramid (burned)
pyramidWesternmost 70×40 m pyramid on Chillón edge burned 2013 by developers, partially restored
11.9545° S · 77.1200° W