Áspero

Áspero sits at the mouth of the Supe valley, twenty-odd kilometres downstream from Caral, and the relationship between the two is the point: Áspero was the fishing town, supplying anchovy and shellfish upriver in exchange for the cotton grown inland that was made into the nets the fishing depended on. It is contemporary, from around 3000 BC, with platform mounds - Huaca de los Ídolos and Huaca de los Sacrificios among them - sunken courts and residential areas, and it was excavated long before Caral was recognised, though its significance was not understood until Ruth Shady's work in the valley put the whole system together. A burial of an elite woman with a headdress of shell and stone beads, found in 2016, was widely reported. The site looks directly onto the Pacific, and the modern port and a former rubbish dump sit alongside it.

What's there

• The mounds - platform structures including Huaca de los Ídolos, from around 3000 BC.
• The trade system - fish for cotton between the coast and Caral upriver.
• The sea position - the site facing directly onto the Pacific.
• The elite burial - the woman found in 2016 with a shell and stone headdress.

When to go

Year-round; the coast is grey from June to October. One to two hours, usually combined with Caral inland. Guided visits are the norm.

Things to know

Low mounds and stone walls rather than standing architecture. The setting includes a working port and a reclaimed dump area. Wind and no shade. Visits are guided, on set routes, with limited free wandering.

Nearby

Caral is up the Supe valley; Barranca and Paramonga are north.