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Ancient polychrome wall found in northern Peru likely over 4,000 years old

www.reuters.com Ancient polychrome wall found in northern Peru likely over 4,000 years old

An ancient polychrome wall discovered in northern Peru is believed to be over 4,000 years old and could have been part of a ceremonial temple, according to archaeologists, offering new insights into the region's historic cultures.

Ancient polychrome wall found in northern Peru likely over 4,000 years old
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8 comments
  • not a great article at all for those of us who have no preexisting idea what a polychrome wall actually is.

    from wiki:

    Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors."[1] The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors.

    When looking at artworks and architecture from antiquity and the middle ages, people tend to believe that they were monochrome. In reality, the pre-Renaissance past was full of colour, and all the Greco-Roman sculptures and Gothic cathedrals, that are now white, beige or grey, were initially painted in bright colours. As André Malraux stated, "Athens was never white but her statues, bereft of color, have conditioned the artistic sensibilities of Europe... the whole past has reached us colorless."[2] Polychrome was and is a practice not limited only to the Western world. Non-Western artworks, like Chinese temples, Oceanian Uli figures, or Maya ceramic vases, were also decorated with colours.

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:


    LIMA, Aug 24 (Reuters) - An ancient polychrome wall discovered in northern Peru is believed to be over 4,000 years old and could have been part of a ceremonial temple, according to archaeologists, offering new insights into the region's historic cultures.

    The wall was first stumbled upon by farmers in 2020 during harvesting work, prompting an extended dig and work to determine its origins, said archaeologist Feren Castillo, head of a research project in the coastal region of La Libertad.

    "Three years later we started a new procedure whose results showed us its age ... Today we are sure it's a building built during the Pre-ceramic Period (the initial period of the Andean civilizations) between 4,000 and 4,500 years ago", the expert said this week", the expert said this week.

    The remains of the ancient building were revealed in the Viru Valley, some 480 km (298 miles) north of Lima.

    The wall is estimated to be about three meters (9.84 feet) high and presents triangular geometric lines with occasional shades of red and yellow, Castillo added.

    The most important archaeological center in Peru is the ruins of Machu Picchu located in the Cusco region, which is a vestige of the Inca Empire that dominated the southern part of the continent 500 years ago and extended from southern Ecuador and Colombia to central Chile.


    The original article contains 291 words, the summary contains 223 words. Saved 23%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

8 comments