Chankillo

This if the fortress
of Chankillo
located in Casma,
Ancash, Peru,
at 364 km from Lima
and 15 km southeast
of Casma.
This fortress dates back
to 2,400 years.
Its main function
was to defend a temple.
I was not the traditional
fortress in the western idea
of defending a town or army.
Here, a temple was defended
as we will see later on.
In the lower part,
there is a solar calendar.
This is the oldest
solar calendar
in America.

This fortress
has three ovoid walls,
concentric in plan,

each one was about 8 m high.
In the first wall,
there were five entries
protected above
with lintels of carob wood
so the entry was like a corridor.
To enter the second wall
there is a labyrinthic passage,
with curves and corners.
The second wall
has four entries,
and the third wall,

which was properly
a retaining wall,
holding an earthfill,
has three entries.
Finally, in the central higher zone,
because this fortress
is located on top of a hill,
there are two circular
concentric towers,
two pairs of circular
concentric towers.
When this fortress
was in use
it was much higher.
Te passage of time,
the earthquakes,
the El Niño phenomena,
have caused the walls
to partially collapse.

We are in front of
one of the five entries
of the first wall
of the Chankillo fortress.
This is the place
where the archaeologists
led by Ivan Ghezzi
worked in the year 2001.
This is an entry
with carob wood lintels
that served to do
the radiocarbon dating
which gave the site
the 2,400 years of age.
There is a protecting wall
that the archaeologists
are obliged to do.
The original wall
can be seen behind.
This is a protecting wall.
Now these walls,
we should note
that the floor is 1 m below
of the existing base
and the ceiling 2 m higher
because of collapse.
We are in one of
the four entries
of the second wall.
These entries were
more labyrinthic
that those of the first wall.
Here was the entry,
by this corridor,
with lintels of carob wood,
and then one could go to
either right or left
but the labyrinth continued.

We are in front
of the third wall,
which was properly
a retention wall,
because on top
is holds a platform.
This wall is not as high
as the first or second walls,
because it served
as a retention wall.
This is one of the entries,
of the three entries
of this third wall.
We observe that all lintels
have been removed.
Here, there are no
carob wood lintels,
as they built in all entrances,
and the stairway
has collapsed
and cannot be observed.

We are now in the
upper part of the temple.
Here there is an access
to enter the first room,
which is this.
There is only one access
to the second room.
Then there is the third room,
which is the most important.
The fourth room is the one
to this side.
In the third room,
the archaeologists
led by Ivan Ghezzi,
found ceramic figures
which represented ritual battles.
So their theory
is that this fortress
was used for ritual battles,
and not for real battles.
We are now in the eastern part
of the solar calendar
of Chankillo.
We can see this field
full of remains,
the main one is this citadel
in the lower part,
This was the political
and administrative center
of Chankillo.
We can also observe
other buildings
and great plazas.
These great plazas were oriented
along the summer solstice,
which suggests that there were
ceremonies and celebrations
for the summer solstice.

We are in an area of
the Chankillo archaeological complex
which has not yet been studied
by the archaeologists.
But, we can observe
a very long and high wall
of about 9 m height.
The floor is even much lower
than shown here.
This place is in between
the fortress and the calendar.
It may have had some function,
but it has not been studied yet.
I want to reiterate that
Chankillo needs to be given
the proper value.

There is a project
in the regional government
of Ancash
for 5 million soles,
to preserve the site,
perform more research,
look for the placing of value,
restoring the site,
improving roads,
installing signs,
and promoting Chankillo.