The site

Chankillo is a monumental complex rising from the coastal desert of Peru's Casma-Sechin basin, built by the Casma/Sechin culture around the third century BCE. Its most remarkable structure is the Thirteen Towers, a solar observatory whose ridge-line of towers tracks the sun across the year. Set alongside a hilltop fort and gathering areas, this UNESCO World Heritage site ranks among the oldest known astronomical observatories in the Americas.

Field notes

civilizations

Chavín

types

Astronomical observatory

built

300 BCE

occupied

500 BCE — 200 BCE

country

Peru