Kuntur Wasi

Kuntur Wasi is a terraced ceremonial complex on a hill above San Pablo, built from around 1100 BC and rebuilt in several phases, with stone platforms, staircases, plazas, monoliths and sunken courts - a Formative-period temple of the same broad horizon as Chavín de Huántar, though with its own character. In 1989 a Japanese team from the University of Tokyo found four intact tombs beneath a plaza containing gold crowns, ear ornaments and pectorals worked with faces and feline imagery, among the oldest goldwork in the Americas. What happened next is the unusual part: the objects stayed in San Pablo. A museum was built in the village with Japanese support and the community runs it, so the crowns are displayed where they were found rather than in Lima. The site is a climb above the village and gets few visitors.

History

The name means "condor house" in Quechua. The temple was first built around 1100-900 BCE in the Ídolo phase, named after a clay relief of a man with a feline face, and was rebuilt in the Kuntur Wasi phase (900-550 BCE), the La Copa phase (550-250 BCE) and the Sotera phase (250-50 BCE), when much of it was taken down (Wikipedia, Kuntur Wasi).

The main sights

• The temple - terraces, plazas, staircases and monoliths from around 1100 BC.
• The gold - crowns and ornaments from the 1989 tombs, among the oldest in the Americas.
• The village museum - community-run, holding the finds where they were excavated.
• The Japanese excavation - decades of work by the University of Tokyo team.

When to go

May to September for road and path conditions. Two to three hours including the climb and the museum. Confirm museum hours - it is community-staffed.

Things to know

Three hours from Cajamarca on winding road, so this is a full day. The climb to the site is steep. The temple itself is modest to look at; the gold in the museum is the reason to come. Hours can be irregular.

Nearby

San Pablo is below; Cajamarca is south-east.

Key facts