TO Gran Pajaténan archaeological site in the Andean forests in Peru, have recently been found 100 ancient structures so far unknown of pre -Columbian civilization Chachapoyaone of the least known and most mysterious in the area. To make this important archaeological discovery was the World monument funda private body that deals with the research and conservation of the cultural heritage local.
The website of Gran Pajatén It is assets UNESCO Since 1990, and is located in an area very impervious of the Cordigliera, inside the “nebulae forests“, That is, of mountain humid forests constantly covered by the clouds. Between 2022 and 2024, the work of archaeologists and restorers of the World Monument Fund has allowed us to discover another 100 structures up to then unknownwhich had remained hidden in the very dense vegetation of the forest. Research has shown that the Grand Pajatén website is therefore much bigger of what was imagined. The study of the area surrounding the structures already known since the 1960s was carried out by combining different techniqueslike the photogrammetry, Tecnomorphological analysisand above all the Lidar scans (a remoteeling technology that exploits the laser pulseswidely used in archeology in recent years), performed both from the sky and from the ground.
The archaeological study of the new uncovered structures will allow in the future of get to know better The CHACHAPOOYA civilization, framing it in its regional context and highlighting its originality with respect to the incafe culture, dominant in this part of the Andes.
Due to the very difficult area in which Gran Pajatén is located, the Civilization Chachapoya was one of the last to surrender to the expansion of theInca Empireand in general very little is known about him. Due to the particular environment in which they lived and the strenuous resistance to the Inca, the chachapoya were called the “Warriors of the clouds“. This civilization prospered in the current northern Peru between the VII and the XV-XVI century. d. C.setting up at altitudes that went to 2000 to 3000 meters.
The Gran Pajatén website, Discovered in the 1960sit consisted to date in 26 stone structuresbetween buildings of various kinds and altars. The oldest phases of the site are datable around the third century. to. C., but most of the visible effici now date back to XV-XVI sec.to the Chachapoya and Inca period. Characteristic of the chachapoya civilization are gods details bas -reliefs which represent human figures with perhaps feathered headdresses. Because of the impervious place where it is located, but also to protect the site, Access to the archaeological area is banned from visitorsand can only be reached with a government permit. Gran Pajatén is located inside the Rio Abiseo National Parkspecifically founded to protect the fragile ecosystem of the forests of the area and the archaeological sites.
