Sechin Bajo facts for kids
Archaeological site of Sechin Bajo overlooking the Sechin River Valley.
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 Location in Peru
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| Location | Ancash, Peru |
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| Coordinates | 9°27′53″S 78°15′54″W / 9.46472°S 78.26500°W |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | c. 3500 BCE |
| Abandoned | c. 1000 BCE |
| Cultures | Casma/Sechin culture |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | In ruins |
Sechin Bajo is a very old archaeological site in Peru. Its ruins date back from 3500 BCE to 1300 BCE. This makes it one of the oldest places where people built big structures in the Americas. It's also one of the oldest civilization centers in the world!
Sechin Bajo is located in the Sechin River valley. It's about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from the Pacific Ocean. The site is also about 330 kilometers (205 miles) northwest of Lima, Peru. Sechin Bajo is just one of many ancient ruins found close together in the valleys of the Casma River and Sechin River.
In 2008, a team of archaeologists from Germany and Peru made an exciting discovery. Led by Peter Fuchs, they found a circular plaza at Sechin Bajo. This plaza was 10 to 12 meters (11 to 13 yards) wide. It was built using rocks and rectangular adobe bricks. Scientists used Radiocarbon dating to find out the plaza was built around 3500 BCE.
They also found a 2-meter-tall (2-yard) frieze nearby. This carving was dated to 3600 BCE. The plaza and the frieze are the two oldest examples of large, planned buildings found so far in the Americas. Sechin Bajo might even be the oldest city-like settlement in the Americas. It could be older than sites of the Caral-Supe civilization!
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What Was the Environment Like?
The coast of Peru along the Pacific Ocean is one of the driest deserts on Earth. It gets less than 10 millimeters (0.4 inches) of rain each year. But 57 small rivers flow into the sea along Peru's 1300-kilometer (800-mile) coast. These rivers get their water from the higher rainfall in the Andes Mountains. The Andes are inland and higher than 2500 meters (8,200 feet).
Each river valley forms a green strip where farming is possible with irrigation. The valleys of the Casma River and its branch, the Sechin River, are one of these green areas. The ancient area of the Casma/Sechin culture stretched about 40 kilometers (25 miles) inland from the sea. The width of these farmable valleys was between 1 and 7 kilometers (0.6 to 4.3 miles).
A group of ancient ruins is found along about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) of the Sechin River valley. These sites are just upstream from where the Sechin River joins the Casma River. They include places like Sechin Bajo, Sechin Alto, Cerro Sechín, and Taukachi-Konkan. Most of these sites are in the desert, just outside the farmed river valley.
People lived in the Casma valley long before these big buildings were made. The oldest date found at Sechin Bajo is 4500 BCE. Other signs show that humans lived in the Casma valley even before 6000 BCE.
Sechin Bajo is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the Caral-Supe civilization. This civilization was once thought to be the oldest in the Americas. Since the distance between them is not very far, it's likely that these two ancient groups shared ideas and culture.
What Did Sechin Bajo Look Like?
The ruins of Sechin Bajo cover an area of about 37 hectares (91 acres). The main part of the site, where ceremonies took place, has three large buildings. These buildings were built at different times.
The "First Building" is the oldest. It started as a platform 16 meters (52 feet) square. It was built from rocks and adobe bricks and stood 2 meters (6.5 feet) above the ground. It had sunken circular plazas, which were a common feature.
Scientists used radiocarbon dating to find out when the First Building was used. It was built and rebuilt between 3700 BCE and 2900 BCE. This was during a time in Peru when people didn't use pottery yet. The First Building was changed five times during this period. Plazas and staircases were built, filled in, and rebuilt many times.
The oldest of the sunken plazas was dated to 3500 BCE in 2008. An adobe frieze, a carved wall decoration, was dated to 3600 BCE. This frieze is 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall. It shows a person holding something in each hand. Some think it's a ritual knife or a ceremonial stick in one hand. In the other, it might be a human head or a shield.
The "Second Building" and the "Third Building" were built much later. They were constructed on top of the First Building and covered a much larger area. These newer buildings date from about 1600 BCE to 1200 BCE. The Third Building is the biggest and most impressive. It had both public areas and private rooms. Many of its walls were decorated with carvings.
After these three buildings were no longer used, the site became a graveyard. People were buried there until the 1400s CE. The Second and Third Buildings were built facing Cerro Sechin. This other ancient site is 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away, across the Sechin Valley. This suggests that the people who built these sites worked together or one group was in charge of the other.
Archaeologists Pozorski and Pozorski believe that Sechin Bajo and other Casma/Sechin cities were taken over around 1000 BCE. They think new groups of people came from the highlands. These new people brought maize (corn), farm animals, different styles of art, and new ways of building.
Why Is Sechin Bajo Important?
The very old dates (3600 BCE) found at Sechin Bajo are very important. If more studies confirm these dates, Sechin Bajo could be the oldest site with large buildings found in the Americas. This means Sechin Bajo might be the oldest urban (city-like) site in the Americas.
This title was previously held by the Norte Chico civilization. Their oldest ruins, like those at Huaricanga, are dated to about 3500 BCE. Huaricanga is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Sechin Bajo. Another important old site is Bandurria, Peru, which has dates around 3200 BCE.
Other important discoveries at Sechin Bajo show that the Casma and Sechin valleys were likely settled around 4500 BCE. People lived there in a stable way, either staying in one place or moving only a little. These people eventually built the amazing structures at Sechin Bajo. We don't know exactly when farming became the main way these people got their food.
The findings at Sechin Bajo also challenge some older ideas. For example, anthropologist Michael E. Moseley and others thought that the first civilizations in Peru relied mostly on the rich ocean resources. They believed these early groups did little or no farming. Sites like Las Haldas, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Sechin Bajo, supported this idea. But the oldest dates for Las Haldas are around 2400 BCE, which is much later than Sechin Bajo.
See also
In Spanish: Sechín Bajo para niños
