The Pachacamac Site
We devoted the first part of the day to a vist to the Pachacamac site. The large archaelogocal site, south of Lima in the Lurin Valley, was a cermonial precinct and royal residence for pre-Incan and Incan cultures. Ruins have been dated to the second century, BC, but the Wari culture began construction of the temple compelx in earnest in the 7th century AD. The complex is named for the god Pachacamac, the creator deity of fire and earth and also associated with the coast. Hence the site was located right along the coast
The Incas arrived in the 15th Century, not that long before the Spanish Conqustadors. The Incas constructed the Temple of the Sun, the most well-known structure at Pacamacac. A German archeologist named Max Uhle had begun work on the site in the 1890s. A monument commemorating his efforts had recently been added. The was still much site work to do. The pyramids were still largely unexcavated and took the form of large hills. A model at the accompanying archaeological msueum helped one to visualize the site as it had been in its classic period.
