Arqueologia en el Parque de las Leyendas

On Thursday, we made our way over to the Arqueologia en el Parque de las Leyendas. It was a nice change to step away from the museum and have the opportunity to walk so close to where ancient civilizations once flourished. I looked around amazed at the amount of work and detail that went into building these ancient huacas. As we see in modern architecture most of the walls were rectilinear, and very few curves or parabolas were used. While it remains a mystery, the architecture seems to be designed with specific purpose. In the Museo De Sitio we observed that most of the buildings had similar orientation that could have some kind of solar or celestial significance. 

When looking at a model of an ancient civilization where most of the walls form right angles, the first thing I notice are the few walls that are not perpendicular with its adjacent wall. I could think of no reason why a wall would need to be at a different angle than all the others, but Dr. Brown made a good point that opened my perspective on what such walls may mean. The walls that at first look like somebody forgot to use their framing square, could be at certain angles so they line up with each of the two yearly solstices. 
                                                  

The ruins in Parque de las Leyendas date back well before the common era. Different cultures over thousands of years have destroyed and built on top of previous civilizations. Our best look at these ancient haucas came on top of the Huaca San Miguel. Huaca San Miguel appears to originate from the Ichma culture between 1100 and 1450. The Ichma culture like many other ancient Andean cultures could have used celestial events as calendar indicators and signs that would tell them when to plant certain crops. This could be compared to how some people still use a farmers almanac in modern time to determine when planting will return highest yield. 

                                                   

I was most impressed by the agriculture techniques that these civilizations developed. Feeding a growing population was a problem thousands of years ago just as it is today. The Maranga civilization (began around 150 AD) made channels from Rio Rimac to supply adequate water to crops as well as the people in the community. I can’t imagine the organization and effort a project like this one would entail. It is crazy to think that water shortage and irrigation needs that plague societies today were being dealt with and resolved thousands of years ago. 

Pictured above is a replica of a tomb for what is most likely a person of political significance. Upon this persons death, his family and a watchmen would be buried alongside him. This was most likely a religous ritual that spawned from great belief in the afterlife.