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Chanquillo

( Archaeological Sites In Peru )

The Thirteen Towers sola..
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Chankillo Observatory Peru Towers

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Chankillo

Dilwyn Jenkins (2025). 9781843530749, Rough Guides. ISBN 9781843530749

Shelia Pozorski (2025). 9781587294624, University of Iowa Press. ISBN 9781587294624

Georg Gerster (2025). 9780892368754, Getty Publications. . ISBN 9780892368754

or Chanquillo

DK (2010). 9780756666286, Penguin. ISBN 9780756666286

is an ancient monumental complex in the coastal desert, found in the Casma Valley basin in the Ancash Department of Peru. The ruins include the hilltop Chankillo fort, the nearby Thirteen Towers solar observatory, and residential and gathering areas. The Thirteen Towers have been interpreted as an astronomical observatory built in the third century BC. BBC/Open University documentary, Broadcast March 2011, Downloadable demonstration of Towers at sunrise. The culture that produced Chankillo is called the Casma/Sechin culture or the Sechin Complex. The site was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in July 2021.

The site covers about four square kilometres (1.5 square miles) and has been interpreted as a fortified temple.

Ivan Ghezzi (2025). 9780387289397, Springer US. . ISBN 9780387289397

The Thirteen Towers solar observatory

The regularly-spaced thirteen towers of Chankillo were constructed atop the ridge of a low hill running near north to south, forming a "toothed" horizon with narrow gaps at regular intervals. To the east and west investigators designated two possible observation points. From these vantages, the 300m long spread of the towers along the horizon corresponds very closely to the rising and setting positions of the sun over the year, albeit they are not all visible. On the winter solstice, the sun would rise behind the leftmost tower of Chankillo and rise behind each of the towers until it reached the rightmost tower six months later on the summer solstice, marking the passage of time. The Thirteen Towers of Chankillo could be the earliest known observatory in the Americas. Inhabitants of Chankillo would have been able to determine an accurate date, with an error of a day or two, by observing the sunrise or sunset from the correct tower. A contemporary site in Chincha Valley, Peru, of the late Paracas culture, which also marked the solstice, has recently been examined.

The towers had been known to travellers for 200 years but were not determined to be an astronomical site until 2007 by Iván Ghezzi and Clive Ruggles.Atwood, Roger. " "Solar Observatory at Chankillo, Peru." Archaeology /ref>

Chanquillo

( Archaeological Sites In Peru )

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Chanquillo

( Archaeological Sites In Peru )