Exploring Ancient Complex In Peru That Rewrote History

I mean, it continues to challenge the historical record, but you can see this site was occupied by many cultures. Many of the bricks were covered with beautiful polychrome painting. I Ayapec, or the decapitator god, often depicted holding a severed human head. Oh, you can see the face here. That's pretty cool. Excavations led to one of the most significant discoveries in Peruvian history. The discovery challenged the patriarchal notion that only men held high positions of status in these ancient cultures. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button, if you haven't already, to stay up to date with the latest videos and the newest announcements coming from the channel. And with that, let's check out this site. Right along the coast of northern Peru lies a significant archaeological complex consisting of three huacas, or individual temples or shrines. All right, so we are at the famous archaeological complex of El Brujo, right here on the coast. The complex of El Brujo, or the site of El Brujo, consists of three main huacas. There's Huaca Prieta, and then Huaca Cao. And Huaca Prieta, they found evidence that it was dated to right before the Younger Dryas cataclysm at 12,500 BCE. But you can see this site was occupied by many cultures. And it was predominantly the Moche culture that added a lot of the murals and the constructions. So we'll just do a quick little walk through and see what we see. They've covered it up. There's looks like there's been a lot of excavation there. And I imagine that was probably the Moche culture that made a lot of those additions, the adobe brick additions. I was just at the Huaca Prieta site. I'll show that. And that's, you know, basically that site just kept getting older and older. So this is what I'm greeted with at the site of Huaca Prieta. Huaca Prieta was, I mean, it continues to challenge the historical record. You can see phase one here, 12,550 BCE. There were several phases to its construction here. And it was until 2013 when Tom Dillehay and his archaeological team found, when they excavated the back part of the site, found organic materials dating to pre-Younger Dryas based on like corn cob samples and netting and things of that nature. Prior to that, it was believed to be only about 2,500 BCE. And then it was 4,000 BCE as they kept doing further excavations. You can see in the distance over there is the El Brujo site, which I will be going to next. A lot of times, either cultures would utilize the materials from prior sites to build their contemporary sites. But other times, like this site, it is believed that they honored it and didn't like pilfer their own building materials. So this was definitely the Moche culture. The modern term is Mojica, but Moche was a kind of original designation given to the culture. Here's the reconstruction that they're finding on the different layers. So this is clearly the captives. We're about to see that in just a second. It is through depictions like these on friezes and ceramics where archaeologists are able to ascertain the importance of ritual sacrifice to the Moche. Here's like a little reconstruction. So basically on the site I was at just before this Huaca Prieta is on the other side further. But this is a little mini reconstruction of what's been at least been excavated here. Clearly only small little portions have been excavated. I walked by without paying by accident, so I had to go back and pay. We'll continue. You know, we'll go up on the right side this time. You can see it was literally built right here on the coast. That's La Huaca Cortada. One of the construction methods introduced by the Moche, which has helped to keep their ancient structures so well preserved, was the use of adobe bricks placed in interlocking checkerboard patterns. This approach made their structures stronger and more flexible, allowing them to build on larger scales and survive the effects of persistent earthquakes known to frequent the region. Although much has been weathered at this Huaca, when first excavated many of the bricks were covered with beautiful polychrome painting, which we will be able to see better at Huaca Calviejo. And you can see Huaca Calviejo in the distance. And you come back here? Oh yeah, very good, thank you. Oh, you can see the face here. That's pretty cool. This is the face of the fanged deity, which is a recurring figure all throughout the pre-Columbian cultures of Peru. To the Moche, it was known as Ay-Ayapec, or the Decapitator God, which was clearly associated with sacrifices, as it's often depicted holding a severed human head. Dr. Ed Barnhart has put in some tremendous research tracing this fanged deity in its many iterations throughout the pre-Columbian world. Oh, that's neat. That's neat. Oh, I mean, Moche artwork was amazing. The Moche civilization was a highly advanced pre-Columbian culture flourishing along the northern coast of Peru from roughly 100 to 800 CE. They were known for their monumental architecture, sophisticated ceramics, irrigation systems, and ritual practices. This was an incredibly unique and elaborate structure containing multiple chambers buried deep within the Huaca itself, and excavations led to one of the most significant discoveries in Peruvian history when the Lady of Cau was found buried deep within these walls. The discovery challenged the patriarchal notion that only men held high positions of status in these ancient cultures. There's the Huaca Cortada. She was found adorned with tattoos on her body suggesting high priestess status, precious jewels, rich textiles, weaponry which indicated a connection to military power, and she was buried with the remains of other individuals, possibly servants or warriors, sacrificed to join her in the afterlife. Ah, look at the colors. The Moche civilization was composed of smaller socio-political states rather than one single unified empire, and each had their own ruling and elite class. Yet, they all shared an overarching common religion, art, and construction style. They're saying this is a ceremonial room given these structures here. It is believed that those who ruled these sub-states were priest kings and shamans, but here was evidence of a powerful and revered priest queen. Moche sites definitely have some of the most beautiful and impressive iconography along the coast of northern Peru, and I'll be planning to show more of those in future videos. Definitely leave any thoughts or comments in the section below, and hit that subscribe button if you haven't already to stay up to date with the latest announcements and the newest videos. I'm currently in the early phases of planning another expedition to Peru to capture even more undocumented and little-known ancient sites, and if you're in the position and have the means to do so and want to help support that effort, there's a link to the GoFundMe in the description below, and truly every little bit helps for things like better equipment and better technologies to help capture these sites. Also, I'm starting to flirt with the idea of doing tours in Peru, so if you're interested in those, please stay tuned to the channel for announcements about that. As always, thank you for watching. I truly appreciate it, and I'll catch you in the next video.