Peru ruins remains of 2,300-yr-old solar observatory
Afp, Lima
Thirteen towers aligned on a hill in Peru are the remains of a 2,300-year-old solar observatory and calendar, which pre-dates even the Inca civilisation, according to a study published Thursday. The walled, hilltop Chankillo ruins, some 400km north of Lima, have long puzzled scientists, says the study published in the March 2 edition of the US review Science. But Peruvian archeologist Ivan Ghezzi and his British colleague Clive Ruggles now believe that the sequence of towers erected between 200 and 300 BC "marked the summer and winter solstices" and that Chankillo "was in part a solar observatory." The towers "are built north-to-south on a hill in the centre of the complex. Sites to the east and west are adorned with known relics of sacrificial material and were likely observing locations. "From these sites, the towers mark the annual rising and setting arcs of the sun. They also serve as a calendar accurate to within a few days," Science reported. The towers were evidence of earlier sophisticated sun cults than the Incans, which were known to be carrying out studies of the sun some 1,500 years ago, it added.
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