Chanquillo
{{short description|Archaeological site in Peru}}
{{About|the archaeological site|the civilization it belonged to|Casma/Sechin culture}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name = Chankillo
| native_name = Chankillo
| alternate_name = Chanquillo
| image = ThirteenTowersOfChanquilloFromFortress.JPG
| alt =
| caption = Thirteen Towers of Chankillo, viewed from the fortress
| map_type = Peru
| map_alt =
| map_size =
| relief = yes
| coordinates = {{coord|09|33|24|S|78|14|09|W|display=inline,title}}
| location = Ancash Region, Peru
| region =
| type = Fortified sanctuary
| part_of = Casma/Sechin culture
| length =
| width =
| area = {{convert|4|km2|abbr=on}}
| height =
| builder =
| material =
| built = 250 BC
| abandoned =
| epochs =
| cultures =
| dependency_of =
| occupants =
| event =
| excavations =
| archaeologists = Ivan Ghezzi
| condition =
| ownership = Ministry of Culture of Peru
| management = Unidad Ejecutora Chankillo
| public_access =
| website =
| notes =
| designation1 = WHS
| designation1_offname = Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex
| designation1_criteria = {{UNESCO WHS type|(i)(iv)}}(i)(iv)
| designation1_date = 2021 (44th session)
| designation1_number = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1624 1624]
}}
Chankillo{{Cite book|title=Peru 1:100 000, La Caleta Culebras (20-g)|publisher=IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional - Perú)}}{{Cite book|title=The Rough Guide to Peru|last=Jenkins|first=Dilwyn|date=2003|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=9781843530749|pages=295|language=en}}{{Cite book|title=Early Settlement and Subsistence in the Casma Valley, Peru|last=Pozorski|first=Shelia|last2=Pozorski|first2=Thomas|last3=Pozorski|first3=Thomas George|date=2006|publisher=University of Iowa Press|isbn=9781587294624|pages=95|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/pastfromaboveaer0000gers/page/197|title=The Past from Above: Aerial Photographs of Archaeological Sites|last=Gerster|first=Georg|date=2005|publisher=Getty Publications|isbn=9780892368754|pages=[https://archive.org/details/pastfromaboveaer0000gers/page/197 197]|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://ficha.sigmincetur.mincetur.gob.pe/index.aspx?cod_Ficha=2454|title=SITIO ARQUEOLOGICO CHANQUILLO|publisher=MINCETUR|language=es|access-date=2017-06-01}} or Chanquillo{{Cite book|title=Space: A Visual Encyclopedia|last=DK|date=2010-06-21|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9780756666286|pages=209|language=en}} is an ancient monumental complex in the Peruvian coastal desert, found in the Casma-Sechin 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.{{Cite journal|last=Ghezzi|first=Ivan|last2=Ruggles|first2=Clive|date=2007|title=Chankillo: A 2300-Year-Old Solar Observatory in Coastal Peru|journal=Science|language=en|volume=315|issue=5816|pages=1239–1243|doi=10.1126/science.1136415|issn=0036-8075|pmid=17332405|bibcode=2007Sci...315.1239G}}[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12619455 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.{{Citation needed|date=June 2017}} The site was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in July 2021.
{{cite news
| last1 = Collyns | first1 = Dan
| title = 'No parallels': 2,300-year-old solar observatory awarded UNESCO World Heritage status
| date = 28 July 2021
| work = The Guardian
| location = London, United Kingdom
| issn = 0261-3077
| url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/chankillo-oldest-solar-observatory-in-the-americas-awarded-unesco-world-heritage-status
| access-date = 2021-07-28
}}
The site covers about four square kilometres (1.5 square miles) and has been interpreted as a fortified temple.{{Cite book|title=Andean Archaeology III|url=https://archive.org/details/andeanarchaeolog00isbe|url-access=limited|last=Ghezzi|first=Ivan|date=2006|publisher=Springer US|isbn=9780387289397|editor-last=Isbell|editor-first=William H.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/andeanarchaeolog00isbe/page/n77 67]–84|language=en|chapter=Religious Warfare at Chankillo|doi=10.1007/0-387-28940-2_4|editor-last2=Silverman|editor-first2=Helaine}}
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.{{Cite web | url=https://hila.webcentre.ca/projects/chankillo/ | title=Archaeoastronomy}} 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.{{Cite web | url=https://www.wmf.org/project/chankillo | title=Chankillo}} A contemporary site in Chincha Valley, Peru, of the late Paracas culture, which also marked the solstice, has recently been examined.{{cite journal| last=Stanish | first=C. | author2=Tantaleán, H.| author3= Nigra, B. T. | author4=Griffin, L.| name-list-style=amp | title=A 2,300-year-old architectural and astronomical complex in the Chincha Valley, Peru | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume=111| issue=20| pages=7218–23 | year=2014| jstor=23774157| doi=10.1073/pnas.1406501111| pmid=24799703| s2cid=21842863| pmc=4034249}}
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. Volume 61 Number 1, January/February 2008. https://www.archaeology.org/0801/topten/solar_observatory.html.{{wide image|Chanquillo Fortaleza (remains).jpg|900px|Panorama of Chanquillo}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commonscat|Chanquillo}}
- [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q13Pz-R8OuE 3D reconstruction of the site]
- [https://www.jqjacobs.net/peru/chankillo.html Chankillo, Peru, Ancient Solar Observatory?]
- [https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6408231.stm Towers point to ancient Sun cult, BBC]
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12619455 Giant Solar Calendar Measures Time, BBC]
- [https://jqjacobs.net/andes/coast.html Early Monumental Architecture on the Peruvian Coast]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080513180534/https://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/07-03-01-03.all.html Yale University article: Peruvian Citadel is Site of Earliest Ancient Solar Observatory in the Americas and slide show ]
- [https://fotostacja.pl/galeria/Podroze/Peru_2010/020_Chankijo_z_lotu_ptaka.jpg.php?locale=en_US View from the air on the Chankillo site ]
- [https://gigapan.com/gigapans/163784 High-resolution image of the Thirteen Towers]
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00f9xzq Wonders of the Universe, Prof. Brian Cox, BBC] (may be region locked to UK only)
{{Archaeological sites in Peru}}
Category:Archaeological sites in Peru
Category:Astronomical observatories in Peru
Category:Former populated places in Peru
Category:Archaeological sites in the Department of Ancash
Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 4th century