Cajamarquilla

Cajamarquilla covers around one hundred and sixty hectares of tapia and adobe construction in the dry hills of the Rímac valley - streets, plazas, pyramids, enclosures and storage, occupied from roughly 200 AD by people associated with the Lima culture and later reoccupied in the Ychsma period, with Wari influence in between. It is the second largest pre-Hispanic urban site in the Lima area after Pachacamac and it is almost entirely unrestored, which means walking among eroded mud walls two and three metres high with very little signage, in a landscape of dust and heat. In 2021 a mummy bundle roughly a thousand years old, bound in rope with the hands over the face, was excavated here and drew international coverage. The site is threatened by quarrying, industrial expansion and encroachment from the surrounding districts, and parts have been lost.

Highlights

• The scale - around one hundred and sixty hectares of mud-brick urban remains.
• The streets and plazas - eroded walls still defining a legible city plan.
• The occupation sequence - Lima culture, Wari influence and later Ychsma reuse.
• The lack of restoration - the site as excavation left it, not reconstructed.

When to go

Year-round; go early for heat. One to two hours. A guide is worth arranging - there is little on-site interpretation and the plan is hard to read.

Before you go

Almost no facilities, signage or staff. Very hot, dusty and unshaded. Eroded mud walls read as mounds to an untrained eye. Quarrying and industry press on the boundaries, and access routes change.

Nearby

Puruchuco is west down the valley; Chosica is further east.

Key facts