🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Palpa Lines and Geoglyphs
Paracas (800–200 BCE) to Topará (200 BCE–200 CE) to early Nazca · Paracas and Topará–Nazca
1,000 hill-crest geoglyphs (1000 BCE–800 CE) — the Paracas predecessor to Nazca on Palpa terraces.
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48 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Paracas (800–200 BCE) to Topará (200 BCE–200 CE) to early Nazca · Paracas and Topará–Nazca
1,000 hill-crest geoglyphs (1000 BCE–800 CE) — the Paracas predecessor to Nazca on Palpa terraces.
🇵🇪 Peru · Hydraulic works
Late Horizon, Inca (~1300–1530 CE) · Inca
Three colossal natural depressions on the Maras plateau were amplified by Incas into concentric circular andenes up to 150 m across and 30 m deep, each terrace a microclimate ring with temperature…
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Early Intermediate Period, Paracas to Nazca culture · Paracas / Nazca
Over 300 geometric and figurative geoglyphs etched by removing dark desert pavement to reveal light subsoil across 450 km² of arid Pampas, including 1.8 km hummingbird, monkey, spider, and trapezoids…
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Nasca-Huari Transition to Middle Horizon · Huarpa–Wari (Lucanas)
Chaviña south pampa: 20 spiral/camelid figures on Lucanas ignimbrite fan at 3,280 m.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Middle Horizon (600–800 CE), Recuay–Wari · Recuay (Pashash)–Wari (Huari)
Three-storey subterranean-tower pyramid-mausoleum (12 m high, 18x18 m square) of Recuay (Pashash) then Wari-Tiwanaku horizon (600–800 CE) in Callejón de Huaylas at 3400 m, built of dressed white…
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Early Intermediate to Middle Horizon (400–800 CE) · Recuay (Pashash)–Wari
High puna fortified town (400–800 CE) of Recuay then Wari, built as terraced pyramidal platform town with 4+ stone masonry pyramids (8–12 m high, 20–30 m per side) capped by elite halls and…
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Gallinazo to Late Intermediate (500 BCE–1470 CE) · Moche–Lambayeque–Chimú palimpsest
Huge coastal Moche–Lambayeque pyramid and fortress city perched on bluff above Jequetepeque delta (500 BCE–1370 CE continuous).
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Late Moche / Middle Horizon transition (600–800 CE) · Moche (Late Moche valley polity)
Last Moche capital after Huacas de Moche collapse (600–800 CE), 5 km² planned city behind Gallows Hill with Plataforma A pyramid (55x35 m, 10 m high terrace) as palatial-ceremonial core, surrounded…
🇵🇪 Peru · Hydraulic works
Inca Empire with antecedents Wari/Tiwanaku (~1000–1532 CE; Inca 1438–1532 CE) · Inca (with pre-Inca antecedents)
The backbone of Tawantinsuyu, Qhapaq Ñan runs 6,000 km along the Andean crest from Colombia to Chile, with east–west transversal roads totalling over 23,000 km.
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Middle Horizon to Late Intermediate (Wari–Chuquibamba) · Siguas / Wari / Chuquibamba
22 cleared-pavement anthropomorphs and trapezoids (600–1200 CE) on Sihuas bluffs above Toro Muerto.
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Archaic to Middle Horizon (Tiwanaku–Wari interaction) · Tiwanaku–Huari interface / Tacna coastal–altiplano
>500 boulders and 40+ desert lines (400–1000 CE peak) at Tacna's Caplina desert gateway.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Initial Period / Early Horizon (1700–800 BCE) · Nepeña Formative / Cupisnique–Chavín
Early Formative coastal pyramid-mound (1700–1200 BCE) predating Chavín, now incongruously dominated by 30-m-high adobera (adobe-brick) knoll built over U-shaped temple.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Late Moche (500–850 CE), Early Intermediate to Middle Horizon · Moche (Mochica, Late Moche Nepeña polity)
Southernmost monumental Moche centre (550–800 CE, Late Moche) and largest Moche painted pyramid south of Pampa Grande — 20 m-high adobe pyramid (45x35 m platform) set on hill crown dominating Nepeña…
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Early Nasca to Wari · Nasca–Huarpa–Wari
Chaviña north ridge: 15 crest lines on 3,420 m hilltop with solstice-aligned avenue.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Late Moche to Middle Horizon / Early Intermediate (600–900 CE dominant) · Casma (Sechín) culture, Moche substrate
Largest single adobe structure in Peru and largest pyramid by volume in the New World — 270 m long, 180 m wide, 30 m high truncated pyramid (4 platforms stepped) dominating Casma plain, debated Late…
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Neolithic (regional) · Neolithic
Northern Cuzco Settlement II — Cuzco (55-38) at Cuzco, Peru is a Neolithic (regional) geoglyph of the Neolithic tradition, built c. 1800 BCE for settlement and associated settlement.
🇵🇪 Peru · Earthwork
Neolithic (regional) · Neolithic
Southern Cuzco Sanctuary II — Cuzco (55-46) at Cuzco, Peru is a Neolithic (regional) earthwork of the Neolithic tradition, built c. 800 BCE for sanctuary and associated settlement.
🇵🇪 Peru · Earthwork
Iron Age (regional) · Iron Age
Upper Lima Ridge East — Lima (56-08) at Lima, Peru is a Iron Age (regional) earthwork of the Iron Age tradition, built c. 1200 BCE for ridge and associated settlement.
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Middle Horizon (Wari expansion) with Early Horizon pathways · Wari / Majes rock-art / Sihuas valley agro-pastoral
Large hill-figure and circle geoglyph field on the inter-valley pampa between Río Majes and Río Sihuas (1,450 m), centered near Quilcapampa Wari town (Middle Horizon). Jennings et al.
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Middle Horizon to Late Intermediate Wari-Chuquibamba · Wari-influenced Chuquibamba/Majes
60+ volcanic-pavement geoglyphs (600-1200 CE) beside Toro Muerto petroglyphs, Majes Valley ritual plateau.
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Late Horizon (Inca Imperial) · Inca (Quechua)
High-altitude (3,400 m) radial sacred geography of the Inca capital: 41 ceque lines radiating from Coricancha/Qorikancha to huaca shrines bounding Sacsayhuamán pampa and Chinchaysuyo suyu.
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Early Intermediate (Topará / Early Nazca) · Paracas-Topará / Early Nazca
30+ trapezoid and anthropomorph lines (200 BCE–300 CE) on inland Pisco River pampas.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Initial Period (1800–900 BCE), Early Horizon transition · Cupisnique-Caballo Muerto (Formative Andean)
Most elaborate Initial Period (1500–1200 BCE) platform pyramid (40x30 m base, U-shaped complex 55x35 m overall) within 2 km² Caballo Muerto field of eight mounds (Moche Valley).
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Late Intermediate to Late Horizon (1200–1476 CE, Inca 1476–1532) · Chincha (Ica regional) / Inca occupied
Flagship adobe pyramid complex of the maritime Chincha Kingdom (1200–1476 CE), sole coastal polity to sustain independent kingdom beside Chan Chan at Inca conquest (recorded by Inca Garcilaso).