Over the past decades, the Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici has been excavating this beautiful, but at the same time mysterious place - Cahuachi. He discovered about forty mounds, on which towered adobe pyramidal structures. His closest friend Helen Silverman, who wrote a book about this mysterious place, also took part in the excavation of the pyramids. We can't wait to find out as soon as possible what this place is that few people have heard of until now and hardly anyone has read in the newspapers or watched a movie about it! This place is Cahuachi, which attracts scientists, archaeologists, historians, researchers, and just tourists from all over the world with its secrets and riddles.
Let's take a deeper look into that distant time in order to understand why and for what people built these colossal structures and drew famous images on the sand to the whole world, visible only from a bird's eye view.
So, with the word Cahuachi, we imagine a Peruvian archaeological site that existed around the first centuries of our era. This monument was the largest ceremonial cultural center of Nazca, which towered over the desert with colossal images called geoglyphs. The Nazca Plateau is the most famous Peruvian plain in South America, which is painted with images of animals, plants, people, as well as many geometric shapes and lines. Their origin is still a mystery. There are a large number of theories and hypotheses of their appearance. There is no answer to the question: why these images are viewed only from a height. It was in such a mysterious and mysterious place that the pyramids of Cahuachi were discovered. Scientists-historians and archaeologists have foundthat about six and a half thousand years ago, Cahuachi was the religious and spiritual center of Nazca and served as a place of mass pilgrimage for the Peruvians associated with ceremonies and sacrifices.
One of the most famous buildings in Cahuachi is the Great Temple. It is a multi-stage pyramid over twenty meters high. The Great Temple is located on top of a huge hill and is surrounded by a tall stone wall. Several more buildings and squares were built around this colossal structure, which are also fenced with stone walls. The largest area is forty-five by seventy-five meters.
Some scholars believe that it was from here that the orders and orders came to create giant images in the Nazca desert. Geoglyphs were drawn on the ground in the form of huge figures of various animals that were not found in those parts, for example, monkeys, killer whales, and seals.
It has been proven by archaeologists and historians that Cahuachi was not a city, but only a temple center with an area of twenty-five square kilometers. The area of this territory is not so large that people could live there permanently. In other words, apparently no one lived there. But why, then, on this small territory there were about forty pyramids and what their purpose is, remains a mystery. Researcher Orefichi found out that the priests flocked to Cahuachi from all over the country and ate food that pilgrims specially brought them from afar. Bringing food with them, the pilgrims exchanged it for various kinds of amulets and blessings of the priests. In fact, we really know very little about the religious culture of that time. Scientists believe that the inhabitants of Nazca believed in the gods of the four elements: sea, earth, fire, heaven. Throughout the territory of Cahuachi there were statues with images of gods: a wild cat, a falcon god, a killer whale god, a mythical bird, etc. Later, the inhabitants of Nazca had two more gods: the goddess of fertility and the flying god of war.
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For more than twenty-seven years, Orefichi has been excavating the religious and spiritual center of Nazca - the Cahuachi complex. The dry and hot climate is very helpful for archaeologists. Thanks to this climate, almost all of the finds are well preserved and are in excellent condition. According to scientists and researchers, as well as tourists who are near the Cahuachi pyramids, they all received a boost of energy and health. There are many legends and rumors that a miraculous healing of completely hopelessly sick people is taking place, since some inexplicable powerful energy emanates from the pyramids. Therefore, people who have been here at least once are attracted to this mysterious and mysterious place, to the pyramids of Cahuachi.
Most often, in these modest burials, various kinds of shards of broken vessels, figurines of clay men, and tools were found. Orefichi tells that the Indians did not want anyone from the living to use their offerings, so they put unnecessary things in the tombs. An interesting fact is that on one of the vessels they found a drawing of a penguin. This caused bewilderment among scientists, where are the penguins in the desert?
Orefichi was simply stunned when he discovered a huge grave measuring four meters by two meters and about three meters deep. It contained about two hundred objects: golden spoons and cups, thirty-four pumpkins, about thirty huge willow baskets, hundreds of various vases with a polychrome pattern, fabrics, the remains of various animals, as well as two skeletons - a man in a fetal position and a two-year-old child wrapped in a luxurious fabric.
The scientist's joy knew no bounds. So many finds and all are intact! According to the archaeologist, due to floods, earthquakes and all sorts of cataclysms, the priests of Nazca in the fourth century AD created a huge cache. They had a presentiment that their end was near. The earth is covered with clay, and the pyramids are collapsing, so they began to make sacrifices so that the gods soften their decision and forgive them.
In the caches of Nazca, Orefichi still found a lot of pumpkins, although this vegetable was not typical for the Peruvians. He was also impressed by the fabrics that were found in the caches. They were large cuts, two by one and a half meters in size, painted with bright colors, which was also atypical for the Nazca culture. The dyes were so intense that it looked like the fabrics were dyed today. One of the largest caches has preserved the largest collection of painted fabrics found to date. Also, according to archaeological finds, it can be judged that objects of various periods were buried. Giuseppe Orefici managed to restore bit by bit the life of the Nazca peoples during the decline of the great civilization.
Beginning in the second century BC, the Nazca Indians gradually settled on the southern coasts of Peru. They lived in buildings made of adob (raw bricks) and quinches (wicker reeds coated with clay), and also had public and religious buildings for all sorts of events. From the second to the eighth century AD, at an early stage in the development of Nazca culture and technology, the most important and main role was played by the aforementioned priests, who basically ruled the people.
Judging by the figures of animals painted on ceramics (Nazca's craft was simply amazingly developed) and other household items, we can judge that, for example, animals such as cats were considered sacred animals.
In the fourth century AD, people left Cahuachi, and in the sixth century, the Nazca civilization finally disappeared due to the onset of the desert and other natural disasters.
Orefichi presented his findings and collected material at a press conference in Florence, where such world scientists as Nicola Mazini and Enzo Rizzo were also present (by the way, they made grandiose discoveries last year in tracking Nazca drawings made from satellite).
More recently, a couple of kilometers from the center of Cahuachi, Orefichi discovered new Nazca pyramids in the south of Peru!
Currently, most of Cahuachi's burials are still unknown, so researchers have something to work on. However, another equally global problem suddenly appeared: on January 18, 2009, the strongest element nearly destroyed the well-known Peruvian drawings from the face of the earth. As a rule, these areas usually have a dry climate, but this time, after prolonged rains, huge streams of water descended from the Andes mountains, which brought mud and clay with them and covered the surface of Nazca with a thick layer, hiding one of the greatest and most mysterious works of the ancient civilization. More than thirty geoglyphs were in the disaster zone.