(NewsNation) — Ruins from a 5,000-year-old ceremonial temple, as well as human remains, were found by archaeologists doing research in Peru, according to the country’s Ministry of Culture.
The temple site is located in the Zaña, or Saña, district of northwestern Peru.
Archaeologists made the discovery while working on the first stage of the research work of the Cultural Landscapes of Úcupe – Zaña Valley Archaeological Project that began on June 3.
“We are probably looking at a five-thousand-year-old religious complex that is an architectural space defined by walls built of mud,” the director of the Archaeological Project of Cultural Landscapes of Úcupe, Luis Armando Muro Ynoñán, said in a statement.
“We have what would have been a central staircase from which one would ascend to a kind of stage in the central part.”
On the temple’s walls were images of someone with a human body but with a bird’s head, cat features and reptile claws. Three skeletons, which Live Science writes were from adults, were wedged between the walls.
Another monument the archaeology team found was gauged to be from around 600-700 AD. At the monument, which had a large stepped platform, the team found the remains of an infant of about 5 or 6 years old, though the burial took place at a later time period, Live Science said.