Revash Mausoleums
Revash Cliff Tombs
Late Intermediate Chachapoya 1100–1470 CE·Chachapoya·🇵🇪 Amazonas, Santo Tomás District, Peru
About
About Revash Mausoleums
Chachapoya cliff mausoleums (AD 1100–1470) carved into limestone cliff-face 2800 m above Utcubamba valley: continuous row of 6-m-high gable-roofed collective tombs (chullpa-like houses 4–5 m tall) painted red-white geometric with cross and anthropomorphic T-motifs, housing bundles of elite mummies removed by huaqueros and now in Leymebamba Museum. Revash predates Inca conquest 1470.
Why it mattersMost intact Chachapoya cliff necropolis illustrating pre-Inca highland mortuary engineering before Inca conquest.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Whether Revash gable imitates Chimú palace roof vs independent
- 02Chronology 1100 vs 1300 foundation
Theories
- 01Chachapoya elite modeling Chimú after 13th c contact
- 02Cliff as liminal ancestor mountain-worship
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.1100–1470 CE
- Period
- Late Intermediate Chachapoya 1100–1470 CE
- Culture
- Chachapoya
- Purpose
- Cliff necropolis for Chachapoya elite collective burial
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.1100–1470 CE
Initial construction
c. 1515 CE
Rediscovery
On the ground
Structures & features
6.5372° S · 77.8536° W · 2800 m · 2 mapped features
Revash Mausoleums central feature
featureMain architectural feature
6.5372° S · 77.8536° WRevash Mausoleums secondary sector
sectorSecondary sector
6.5362° S · 77.8526° W
Gallery