Zaña Valley (archaeology) facts for kids

The Zaña Valley is an amazing archaeological area in northern Peru. It's famous for having the oldest known canals in South America! These ancient water channels were built a very, very long time ago, even before people started using pottery. The valley is located southeast of a city called Chiclayo. The Zaña River flows through it, but sometimes it's dry, and other times it can have strong, fast-moving water.

Ancient Canals: A Big Discovery

These canals were small, with stones lining their sides. They brought water from streams high up in the Andes Mountains. Scientists believe these canals were used as far back as 6,700 years ago, and definitely 4,500 years ago. Special dating methods showed that the oldest canal is about 6,705 years old!

How the Canals Were Built

The canals were shaped like a "U," mostly even on both sides, and not very deep. Stones were placed along their edges. This was probably to stop the soil from washing away, which is called erosion. The way the canals were placed and sloped shows that the ancient people were very good at engineering and planning! Keeping these canals working also meant that people had to work together in a very organized way.

Who Discovered Them?

A team led by Tom Dillehay from Vanderbilt University first found these canals in 1989. However, how important they were only became clear during more recent studies. These canals are confirmed to be around 5,400 years old. They come in different sizes, but all of them were built going downhill. This allowed gravity to pull water from a higher canal down to the crops below.

Building and taking care of these canals needed a lot of effort from everyone in the community. This shared work helped people connect and communicate with each other. Dillehay thinks there wasn't one main leader in charge of building these canals. He believes this was because it was very early in the history of the Andean Society. Also, there are no signs of a strict social order in the areas around the canals. Dillehay also points out that these canals are similar to early canals in places like ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia. They all used gravity to move water over short distances, which was easy to manage.

A 3,000-Year-Old Temple

In November 2019, Peruvian archaeologists, led by Walter Alva, made another exciting discovery! They found a 3,000-year-old temple in the Oyotún district. This temple was 130 feet long and made of huge stones, so it's called a 'megalithic' temple. It was likely used for a 'water cult,' meaning people worshipped water there. They also found 21 tombs inside!

The Temple's History

Archaeologists think the temple was left empty around 250 BC. Later, people from the Chumy culture used it as a burial ground. Twenty of the tombs belonged to the Chumy people. One tomb held an adult male from an even earlier time, called the Formative period. He was buried with a special ceramic bottle that had two spouts and a bridge handle.

Excavations show that the temple was built in three main stages:

• First Stage (1500 BC - 800 BC): People built the basic foundations of the building using cone-shaped clay.
• Second Stage (800 BC - 400 BC): The large stone temple was built. This was influenced by the Chavin, an important pre-Inca civilization.
• Third Stage (400 BC - 100 BC): People added round pillars. These pillars were used to hold up the roof of the temple.