DLURIHUASI URBAN CENTER

Location

Lurihuasi archaeological settlement is 18 km away from the exit at Km 184 of the North Pan-American highway, towards Ámbar.

Political location:

Department: Lima / Province: Barranca

District: Supe

Geographical location:

Zone: 18S

Reference system: WGS84

UTM Coordinates:

221 167.00 E - 8 796 367.15 N

Average Altitude: 325 m a. s. l.

Urban center area: 38.11 ha

Geographic aspects

Lurihuasi urban center is located in the left bank of the mid-lower section of the Supe valley, three kilometer to the west of the Sacred City of Caral. It was built in a gully between Miraya and Lurihuasi mountains.

Constructions in Lurihuasi urban center were built on high ground and on the hillsides, protected from floods and runoffs that formed slopes in the gully. The Supe river, and its riverside forest, springs and farmland is located in the north. Heading south we arrive into the hilly area.

Furthermore, people could access the coastline taking two paths: one, across the valley, through an 18 km trail, from east to west; another one, through a road system that crosses the mountain chain, from northeast to southeast, in a 14 km trip.

Background

Carlos Williams and Manuel Merino registered the site as Chupacigarro Chico in the inventory of the Supe valley’s archaeological heritage they made in the 1970s. In 1980s, Elzbieta Zechenter collected samples of the site for radiocarbon dating (2859 to 2347 cal BC) and establish the livelihoods used by the population. In the archaeological exploration conducted in the Supe valley by Dr. Ruth Shady and her team, between 1994 and 1996, the site was called Lurihuasi, as locals called it, and it was included in the settlements of Caral civilization due to the features of the built space and the buildings that comprise it (Shady et al. 2000).

Before the Zona Arqueológica Caral’s intervention, the site had been looted by treasure hunters, and was affect- ed by irrigation systems and barns that had been built there. In 2002 works to enhance Lurihuasi urban center started, thus stopping its destruction and beginning its social history recovery.