Pusharo facts for kids

The Petroglyphs of Pusharo are a special collection of ancient rock art found in southeastern Peru. They are located deep inside Manú National Park, which is a huge rain forest area. This park still has many parts that explorers haven't seen yet, and you need a special government permit to enter.

What are the Pusharo Petroglyphs?

The Pusharo petroglyphs are carvings made on a large rock face. This rock wall is over 100 feet long and 75 feet high, and the carvings go up to 9 feet high. They are found on the south side of the Río Palatoa river.

Some experts believe these carvings were made by ancient people from the Amazon rainforest. They think the carvings might have had a special religious or spiritual meaning for them. Other experts think that the Inca people might have also been involved in making them, and that some of the carvings could even be parts of a map! We need more research to fully understand what the Pusharo petroglyphs mean.

The carvings show many interesting shapes. You can see heart-shaped faces (some with double outlines), spirals, zigzags, suns, and unique "curlicue Xs." There are also other shapes that are hard to describe with words.

Who Discovered the Petroglyphs?

It seems that a person who collected rubber from trees was probably the first non-indigenous person to find these petroglyphs in 1909. After that, a missionary named Vicente Cenitagoya visited the site in 1921.

In the 1950s, a few adventurers started to arrive. In 1969, a Peruvian doctor named Dr. Carlos Neuenschwander Landa visited, and he came back later with explorer Sr. Santiago Yábar. Other visitors in the 1970s included Padre Adolfo Torrealba, Japanese explorer Yoshiharo Sekino, and French-Peruvian explorers Herbert and Nicole Cartagena. In 1980, Peruvian archaeologist Federico Kauffmann Doig also saw the site.

In 1991, an American explorer named Gregory Deyermenjian visited Pusharo with Paulino Mamani and Santiago Yábar. Since then, a rock art expert named Rainer Hostnig has visited and studied the carvings.

In 2008, the petroglyphs were featured in a TV show called Extreme Dreams with Ben Fogle on the BBC.

Petroglyphs and the Lost City

In 2016, the Pusharo petroglyphs became important in the search for a legendary lost city called Paititi. A researcher named Vincent Pélissier thought the petroglyphs might be a map leading to this city. This idea assumes two things: first, that the carvings are indeed a map, and second, that the Inca people made them. However, these ideas have not been fully proven yet.

See also

In Spanish: Petroglifos de Pusharo para niños