Latin America

The 3,000- to 4,000-year-old artwork decorated the wall of a temple atrium during Peru’s Formative Period

Sonja Anderson - Daily Correspondent

August 11, 2025



The mural is decorated with blue and yellow pigments. Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

Researchers in Peru have discovered a multicolored mural created by an Indigenous group more than 3,000 years ago. The artwork, which features astronomical and fishing-related motifs, is the first of its kind found on the country’s northern coast, says dig leader Ana Cecilia Mauricio, an archaeologist at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, in a statement.

The dig team found the mural last month, during an excavation of the Huaca Yolanda site, which is located in a valley in Peru’s northwestern coastal region of La Libertad. The three-dimensional mural once adorned the wall of an atrium in a ceremonial temple.

The mural reveals the rich symbolism of pre-Inca cultures in the region. It “has characteristics that are unique in Peruvian archaeology,” Mauricio tells Agence France-Presse (AFP). “We had never before found iconography or drawings of this type.”



Huaca Yolanda is an archaeological site in the Chao Valley, on Peru's northern coast. Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-colorful-mural-of-stars-and-fish-is-the-first-of-its-kind-found-on-the-coast-of-northern-peru-180987144/