SECHIN, THE OLDEST MORGUE IN PERU

 

 

 

 This archaeological site was discovered in 1937 by the Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Tello and is located in the province of CASMA. It is characterized by its incredible facade with representations of warriors and human sacrifices. The first thing we need to do is travel to the city of Casma, located 375 kilometers north of Lima. Once in Casma, follow a marked route that will lead us 5 kilometers further through the desert to this mysterious temple, located very close to the Sechin River and the Pan-American Highway North.

 

 

 

 But what exactly was this place and what was the purpose of this strange temple that boasts an impressive facade whose perimeter wall is decorated with stone slabs with bas-reliefs and lithic sculptures showing 2 processions that parade in a macabre troupe among human remains and mutilated people in agony.

 

  

 

 According to archaeologists, the temple of Sechin is over 4,000 years old, making it one of the oldest in Peru. But why does its walls depict figures mutilated from the waist up, cut in half, mutilated from the abdomen, mutilated from the waist down, with mutilated legs, mutilated eyes and ears everywhere, vertebrae, headless torsos with exposed viscera, and a child cut at the waist? 

 

  

 

 There are many hypotheses that explain the gruesome decoration of this mysterious temple and the events that took place there, ranging from it possibly being a modern morgue in its time or a laboratory where very advanced studies in human anatomy were carried out, where some "specialized and strange doctors" lived who practiced dismemberment of the human body in its entirety... to those theories that, based on some legends, narrate fantastic events such as a disemboweled man ascending to the sky and becoming a comet, his blood and viscera transforming into meteorites, and human heads becoming stars that then appeared to announce the beginning of the fishing seasons.

 

 

  

 

In general, it could be said that mutilated bodies and dismembered limbs as well as viscera are linked to constellations or stars within indigenous thought, but it is not only symbolism; archaeological evidence shows us that at least in the case of the heads they were the product of "bloody hunts" where prisoners were executed by cutting off their heads. 

 

  

 

 Regarding the monumental aspect, the excavations revealed the main stone temple where these strange scenes are engraved in bas-relief and gold; a secondary temple built of mud with staircases that appears to be the oldest, dating back to 2,400 BC, which was apparently buried and the new stone temple was built on top of it.

 

  

 

 

 

Armando el cronista