Kotosh

Kotosh is a small complex of superimposed temples on a slope outside Huánuco, excavated by a University of Tokyo team from 1958, and it is famous for one thing: a pair of crossed forearms modelled in mud plaster on a niche wall of one of the buried structures, dated to roughly 2000 BC or earlier. There are two such reliefs; they are among the oldest known sculptural works in the Americas, and their meaning is unknown - readings range from duality and complementarity to a gesture of offering. The temples themselves belong to the Kotosh Religious Tradition, a set of small ceremonial buildings with central hearths and ventilation ducts found across this part of the Andes, built and then deliberately buried to raise a new one on top. The original relief is in the national museum in Lima; what stands at the site is a faithful replica in place.

What you actually see

• The crossed hands - a mud relief from around 2000 BC, in replica at the site.
• The buried temples - structures deliberately entombed to build the next above.
• The hearths and ducts - the ventilated ritual fireplaces of the tradition.
• The Japanese excavation - the 1958 work that identified the sequence.

When to go

May to September for dry weather. One hour. A short trip from Huánuco, easily combined with the city.

Honest expectations

The original relief is in Lima and what you see is a replica, which disappoints some visitors. The site is small and the structures are low walls. Signage is limited. Little shade.

Nearby

Huánuco is east; the road continues west towards La Unión and Huánuco Pampa.