Archeologists have discovered a 5,000-year-old fire altar at the Era de Pando archaeological site, revealing new secrets about the oldest center of civilization in the Americas.

Era de Pando is located in the Suppe Valley in Peru, northwest of the sacred city of Caral-Suppe, and is part of the wider Caral archaeological zone.

The site is associated with the Caral-Suipe civilization, a pre-Columbian society that emerged long before the construction of the Great Pyramids of Egypt and predates the rise of the Olmecs by nearly two millennia.

The Caral-Suce civilization had up to thirty large settlements in the present-day Caral region, with the first center forming around 3500 BC.

Era de Pando is one such settlement, consisting of 48 structures located around a central space, including pyramidal buildings, temples, and various dwellings.

Archeologists from the Caral Archaeological Zone (ZAC), Executive Department 003 of the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, recently conducted a study of Building C1, a large pyramidal structure located in the center of the site.

The excavations revealed a circular altar on the western side of the building, which experts believe to be a fire altar, an auxiliary ceremonial area for the central rituals performed in the main temple structure.

The fire altar is approximately 7 meters in diameter and is preceded by a rectangular courtyard measuring 16 meters long and 8 meters wide. Access to the altar is via a descending staircase that leads to the western side of the building's ceremonial hall.

These altars were built in the most important public buildings in the shape of a pyramid and close to the residences of high-ranking individuals. Access to these sacred spaces was reserved for selected religious, political, and social leaders. During private ceremonies, these elite groups gathered at the altars to burn offerings of beads, quartz fragments, fish, mollusks, and agricultural products. | BGNES