At a UNESCO Heritage Site in Peru, archaeologists have announced the discovery of over 100 additional hidden structures belonging to a pre-Incan civilization.
Gran Pajatén is located high in the northeastern Peruvian Andes, and was likely a major center of the Chachapoya civilization, which thrived for 400 years before being conquered by the Inca.
Discovered in the 1960s, and excavated in the 1980s, the remoteness of the site led to its eventual neglect.
Between 2022 and 2024, an interdisciplinary team from World Monuments Fund Peru carried out a conservation and documentation project within Río Abiseo National Park, a UNESCO Mixed World Heritage site recognized for its extraordinary cultural richness and natural beauty.
Using technology like LiDAR, the researchers identified “a sophisticated urban settlement complete with agricultural terraces, circular buildings and cliffside tombs at altitudes of up to nearly 10,000 feet above sea level,” Smithsonian Magazine writes.
“This discovery radically expands our understanding of Gran Pajatén and raises new questions about the site’s role in the Chachapoya world. Evidence now confirms that it is not an isolated complex but part of an articulated network of pre-Hispanic settlements from different periods,” said Juan Pablo de la Puente Brunke, Executive Director of WMF in Peru, in a statement from the fund.
The Chachapoya society (pronounced cha-cha-POE-ya) was composed of regional chiefdoms that nevertheless shared a distinctive architectural and artistic language, as reflected in their unique circular buildings, geometric friezes, and highly decorated cliffside burials.
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Archaeological investigations have confirmed that Chachapoya presence at Gran Pajatén dates back as far as the fourteenth century, with soil layer analysis hinting at even earlier use of the site. Combined with the discovery of a nearby network of pre-Hispanic roads connecting Gran Pajatén to other sites such as La Playa, Papayas, and Los Pinchudos, these findings support a broader interpretation of the complex as part of a hierarchical, well-connected territory.
With one team member telling Art News that research into the site and the civilization has only just scratched the surface, and that only 10% of the aerial LiDAR survey has been processed and documented, exciting the future for this lesser-known treasure of Peru’s past.
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In parallel with these remote sensing efforts, the team also undertook archaeological and conservation interventions at one of the most important structures within the Gran Pajatén complex, pictured here in this article above.
A free exhibition at the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Peru, on view from May 21st to June 18th, offers an opportunity to explore the Chachapoya culture and learn more about WMF’s recent discoveries.
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