Peruvian citadel that is nearly 4,000 years old opens doors to tourists
The Penico citadel, now open to the public, was built in Peru almost 4,000 years ago.
At Conch Shell Trumpets music, a citadel of Caral Civilization, aged 3,800, one of the oldest in the world – opened its doors to visitors to Peru on Saturday, after eight years of study and restoration work.
The archaeological site, known as Penico, was a meeting point for trade between the first human communities on the Pacific coast and those of the Andes and the Amazon regions, researchers said.
Located in the Supe valley, around 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of the Peruvian capital Lima and about 12 miles from the Pacific Ocean, Penico was a hilly landscape before the start of exploration work in 2017.
Archaeologists think that he could explain why Carale civilization – which has prospered between 3,000 and 1,800 BC – was transformed.
During the opening ceremony, artists from the region played Pututus – traditional shell trumpets – during an ancestral ritual offering at the Pachamama, the mother land, made up of agricultural products, coca leaves and local drinks.
Penico was an “organized urban center dedicated to agriculture and trade between the coast, the mountains and the forest,” archaeologist Ruth Shady told AFP, who conducts research on the site.
The site itself goes up between 1,800 and 1,500 before JC, she added.
Archaeologists have been studying Penico for eight years to try to understand why Carale civilization has disappeared.
It was built on a geological terrace at 2,000 feet (600 meters) above sea level, parallel to a river to avoid floods.
Research by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture has identified 18 constructions, including buildings and residential complexes.
Researchers think it was built at the same time as the first civilizations in the Middle East and Asia.
The citadel was a shopping center connecting communities to the Pacific Coast of Peru with the Andese and Amazonian regions.
Shady said the researchers hope that the site will be able to shed light on the crisis which, according to them, has helped to accelerate the end of the Carale civilization.
This crisis, she said, was linked to climate change that led to droughts and affected agricultural activities in the region.
“We want to understand how Carale civilization has formed and developed over time, and how it has become in crisis following climate change,” she added.
© 2025 AFP
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