An ancient Peruvian temple discovered beneath a sand dune is rewriting what we know about a civilization that predates the Incas by 3,500 years.
The temple is early evidence of the emergence of institutional religion, and possibly human sacrifice, in the early Andean civilizations, which span from about 2000 BC to the rise of Chavín de Huantar and the Early Horizon period around 900 BC. This period is characterized by the prevalence of pottery and large numbers of temples.
“It was clear that people were crowded together.” Luis Muro InonanArchaeologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
How was La Otra Banda discovered?
Local authorities contacted Muro Inonan in 2023 after hearing reports of looting near the old colonial town of Saña in northwestern Peru. At the time, he and his colleagues were planning to excavate a nearby Moche ruin. After finding traces of murals at the bottom of various looting pits in the area, they decided to add this new area to their plans.
They began excavating a relatively small section in June 2024 to see what they could find. The team quickly unearthed ancient mud and clay walls that had been buried beneath the sand at the site they’ve named La Otra Banda Cerro las Animas.
Over the next few months, the team found evidence of two temples, several centuries apart: an older one probably around 4,000 years old, and a newer one that may be more than 1,400 years old.
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Discovery of the early temple
La Otra Banda’s earlier buildings include a theater-like structure with a stage and backstage areas connected by a staircase, which Muro Inonhão said may have been used for ritual performances.
Archaeologists uncovered a mud slab next to the stairs that contained “the most interesting thing we found,” Muro Inonyan said: an anthropomorphic figure with a bird-like head, reptilian limbs and a generally human shape.
The statue is similar to others found at nearby sites in the Kasma Valley that date to an earlier period, leading Muro-Inonyan and his colleagues to believe the structures were contemporaneous and shared a religious tradition.
Another nearby building has a curved wall painted with a geometric mural in blue, yellow and red, but it has been badly damaged by looting and erosion, Muro Inonyan said.
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Human Sacrifice at La Otra Banda
Archaeologists also found two bodies buried in the temple. Researchers don’t know if they were male or female, but the remains were intact and buried in a bent over position on their left side, typical of burials from that period, without any offerings.
Muro-Inonyan said the bones indicate they appear to be young adults, possibly female.
This may be an important clue as to how they died, since later cultures such as the Moche sometimes ritually sacrificed men after war, whereas women were sacrificed when the Moche built monumental temples and performed ritual burials.
“We have very good evidence that human sacrifice was a common practice in ancient Peru,” Muro Inoñan says, but adds that further research is needed to confirm or deny whether it occurred in La Otra Banda’s older period.
Sacrifices or not, they were probably associated with the temple: “My interpretation is that they were in charge of preserving the space,” says Muro Inonyan.
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Moche Temple Finds
Excavations also included a Moche temple adjacent to the earlier temple, which was built primarily of mud, whereas the earlier temple was built of adobe. Moche civilization The temple lasted from about 1 AD to about 800 AD, and Muro Inonyan said the temple could date to the Late Moche period, but further research is needed to confirm these dates.
“The temple was covered in sand, making it much easier to excavate than most of the excavation sites,” says Muro Inonyan. Overall, the construction of these temples and others around them may have been a response to larger phenomena that were affecting people at the time, such as changing weather patterns. The region’s climate is unpredictable, with El Niño-related weather patterns resulting in long dry periods followed by devastating rainfall.
Whether the Moche or earlier peoples, they may have built temples and performed human sacrifices to appease gods they believed controlled the weather.
“Religion was an expression of coping,” Muro Inonyan said, adding that many temples were renovated and rebuilt multiple times after important political events, such as changes in leadership or the death of elites.
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Future excavations
Work in the area is just beginning: researchers have only excavated the earlier period and only a small portion of the Moche temples, but it’s clear they were part of a much larger settlement covered in pottery fragments covering more than 37 acres.
“It will take years to fully uncover this,” Muro Inonyan said.
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Joshua Rupp Learn is an award-winning science writer based in Washington, D.C. A native of Alberta, he has contributed to numerous science publications, including National Geographic, The New York Times, The Guardian, New Scientist, and Hakai.
