Ancient site · Settlement
Huaca Prieta
A huge dark mound of ash, stone, shells, plant remains and textiles on the Pacific shore of the Chicama Valley in northern Peru, inside the El Brujo complex. People camped here as early as about 14,500 years ago and kept living and building on the spot for thousands of years before pottery arrived.
Its people fished, gathered shellfish and grew squash, beans, peppers, gourds and cotton, and the site has given some of the earliest evidence for the use of avocado.
- Dates
- c. 12,500–2000 BCE
- Still standing
- Yes
- Location
- 7.92° S, 79.31° W
How we know
No writing existed; the mound's layers are dated by radiocarbon on charcoal, plants and shell.
Nearby sites
- Huacas del Sol y de la Luna c. 100–800 CE
- Sipán (Huaca Rajada) c. 50–700 CE
- Sechín Bajo c. 3500–1300 BCE
- Chavín de Huántar c. 1200–500 BCE (dates debated)
- Caral (Sacred City of Caral-Supe) c. 2600–2000 BCE
- Real Alto Valdivia village c. 3800–1500 BCE (earlier traces)