Thursday, June 08, 2006

Ancient Calendar Unearthed in Peru

The Temple of the Fox (located in the hills Buena Vista in the Chillon Valley - north of Lima, peru) was unearthed in June 2004 by Robert Benfer, professor emeritus of anthropology at Missouri University.

Photos by National Geographic ©

Here Benfer’s team found the earliest known astronomical alignment and sculptures in the New World, suggesting that the Andeans used constellations to guide their lives and predict weather such as droughts and floods. It is considered as the oldest known observatory in the Americas and it was well-preserved because rainfall on the western side of Peru are not hard.

Aside from astronomic alignments, Benfer said his team also found ancient artwork on the 16-acre site, including a mural of a fox carved inside a painted llama. Radiocarbon dating of offerings in the temple's chambers suggest a date of around 2200 BCE


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