Plaza that Predates Stonehenge Found in Peru

A circular plaza built of rocks and adobe bricks has been found in Peru, north of Lima. Why is that important? The plaza dating back 5,500 years! It was found under the ruins called Sechin Bajo.

This picture comes from Science News and is credited to EPA/El Comercio newspaper. Their story further id's the spot as at a coastal zone and mountain range in the Casma region, in northern Ancash.

The Science News story (apparently taken from El Comercio) says that a relief on one of the walls shows an executioner holding a knife in his right hand and a serpent in his left. The figure has feline teeth.

"'Peruvian archeology now finds itself for the first time with a representation of a figure that endured 3,000 years, until the end of the Moche culture, which is when the figure disappeared, although it almost certainly remained in the minds of the Andean peoples for a long time afterward,' said Jesus Briceno, scientific advisor to the Sechin Bajo project. "

A few miles away is Caral, some 5,000 years old. Caral, according to the Reuters' story, is one of five places in the world where humans began living in cities around the same time. The other sites are Egypt, India, Mesopotamia, and China.