Ancient Peruvians Used 13 Huge Towers as Solar Calendar

CHANKILLO SITE, PERU — A mysterious and fascinating collection of ancient ruins in Peru has been named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Here are the details: The Guardian reports that the oldest solar observatory in the Americas has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status and dubbed "a masterpiece of human creative genius." Chankillo is a 2,300-year-old archeological ruin that lies in a desert valley in northern Peru.

Its most famous features are 13 stone towers built around 220 B.C. The towers functioned as a calendar that used the rising and setting arcs of the sun to mark equinoxes and solstices.

It was also used to define the precise time of year to within one or two days.

The site includes an imposing triple-walled hilltop complex, known as the Fortified Temple.

Archeologists believe the site was likely abandoned in the early first century A.D. and was largely forgotten until the 19th century.

No human remains have been found at the ruins and little is known about the culture.

Chankillo program director Ivan Ghezzi says the site was built at a time of great conflict and social strife, and the Chankillo society was the product of a process of "Balkanization" that followed the collapse of the even older Chavín culture.

Chankillo is the third Peruvian site to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List this century.

The status was awarded to Qhapaq Nan, a vast Inca road system, in 2014, and to Caral, the oldest city in the Americas, in 2009.