“JU Institute of Archaeology students Bernardetta Bielecka, Maria Dyda, Róża Dziubińska, Emilia Kuzar and Alicja Łacheta took part in an archaeological study at the Cerro Colorado site, located about 200 kilometres north of Lima on the Peruvian coast. The project was carried out by an independent research group Programa de Investigación ‘Los valles de Barranca’.“
In 2022, a team of archaeologists from Peru and Poland, operating as part of the Programa de investigacion “Los valles de Barranca” group, began research as part of a new project.
“We found the remains of monumental architecture made of dried bricks and stone blocks during the first surveys, i.e. excavations on a very limited scale.”
said Łukasz Majchrzak, who is involved in the project.
“This research is particularly important for two reasons. Firstly, we were able to acquire materials for radiocarbon dating in this region. Secondly, the oldest layers of Cerro Colorado cover architecture dating back to the third millennium BCE. This means we’re dealing with the oldest examples of monumental architecture in the New World. These relics are often classified as belonging to what is called the preceramic period. It is still up for debate whether Peruvian coastal communities were hierarchical in nature. Our colleagues’ research could bring us new information about that’, said Prof. Jarosław Źrałka, Prof. UJ, head of the Department of New World Archaeology and research supervisor of the students participating in the project.”