Ancient 4,750-Year-Old Megalith Discovered On Peruvian Mountain

[Judi Lynn]

1. 4,750-Year-Old Monumental Stone Plaza Discovered in Peru

Feb 19, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of anthropologists from the University of Wyoming, the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of New Hampshire has discovered a 4,750-year-old megalithic circular plaza measuring 18 m (60 feet) in diameter at Callacpuma in the Cajamarca basin of Peru. This is one of the earliest known monumental and megalithic structures in the northern Peruvian Andes and one of the earliest examples in the western hemisphere.


Monumental architecture is central to many aspects of human social organization and the development of social complexity, yet the drivers of its origins remain poorly understood.

This form of architecture is purposefully constructed to be larger and sometimes more elaborate than is needed given its intended function.

The world’s earliest ceremonial monumental architecture, whether represented by alignments of megalithic stones, large platforms and buildings, or bounded plazas, were the results of communal or corporate action, by groups larger than immediate households and often larger than the population of the local area.

Early, well-known examples of ceremonial architecture of this kind include Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, Stonehenge in England, and the great pyramids of Giza in Egypt, which were constructed by 9,000 BCE, 2900 BCE, and 2650 BCE, respectively.

Gobekli Tepe is particularly important here as it was constructed during the Pre-pottery Neolithic by hunting-gathering-foraging peoples on the cusp of sedentary life and food production.

More:
https://www.sci.news/archaeology/callacpuma-plaza-12699.html