Buena Vista, Peru facts for kids

Buena Vista is an ancient place in Peru, about 25 miles inland from the coast. It's located in the Chillon River Valley, not far from Lima, the capital city. This area is in the foothills of the Andes mountains. Buena Vista is an archaeological site, which means it's a place where scientists study old human history by digging up artifacts and buildings.

Scientists first started digging here in 1987. They found items that were very old, some from about 9,700 years ago! Other things found were from around 1,960 years ago.

The Temple of the Fox

In 2004, a team of archaeologists led by Robert Benfer made an exciting discovery at Buena Vista. They found a special building they called the Temple of the Fox. It got its name because there's a painting (called a mural) near the entrance that shows a fox curled up inside a llama.

This temple is super old, about 4,200 years old! It was built by people who lived in the area long before the famous Inca. These ancient people didn't have a writing system, so we don't know their real name. But archaeologists believe they were part of a culture that followed the Kotosh religious traditions. Many experts simply call them the Andeans.

The Temple of the Fox is quite large, standing about 33 feet tall and 55 feet long.

An Ancient Observatory

One of the most amazing parts of the Temple of the Fox is the observatory at its very top. This is the oldest observatory ever found in the Americas! It was built 800 years before other similar scientific and artistic achievements in the region.

The people who built the temple used large rocks on a ridge to the east as a kind of calendar. The biggest rock showed them when the summer solstice happened. On that special day each year, the sun would rise exactly over that rock when seen from the temple.

Even more interesting, just before sunrise on the summer solstice, a group of stars (a constellation) that looked like a fox would appear between two other large rocks on the same ridge. This shows how much these ancient people knew about the sky!

Why Was the Temple Built?

The fox was clearly very important to the people who built this temple. It's in the entrance mural and connected to the stars they watched. For many indigenous peoples of South America, the fox is a symbol of water and good crops.

Archaeologist Robert Benfer thinks the people of Buena Vista used the Temple of the Fox to ask their gods for good harvests. The summer solstice would have been the time to plant their crops. Scientists found remains of plants and vegetables inside the temple's offering room, which supports this idea.

The observatory also has amazing carvings and a life-size sculpture of a musician. This sculpture is special because most art from that time in the region was flat, two-dimensional pictures.

Other Discoveries at Buena Vista

The entire Buena Vista site is huge and has ruins from different time periods, some as old as 10,000 years and others less than 3,000 years old. Besides the Temple of the Fox, the site includes:

• A ceremonial center (a place for important events)
• Stepped pyramids
• Homes for important people (elites)
• Homes for regular people (commoners)

Many of these buildings were built after the Temple of the Fox was at its busiest. Sadly, most of these structures have been robbed over time. Luckily, the Temple of the Fox was buried under many layers of earth, which protected it from being looted.

See also

In Spanish: Buena Vista (sitio arqueológico) para niños