A millennia mural that might belong to the extinct Cupisnique culture was found in the valley of the Virú province, La Libertad region, in Peru, archaeologists reported on Monday.
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The 3,200-year-old mural depicts a spider god holding various knives. The specialists believe it was a deity related to fertility and rain. According to archaeologist Regulo Franco Jordan, who identified the site, "what we have here is a shrine that would have been a ceremonial center thousands of years ago."
The experts explained that the site dates to the same period of the pre-Columbian Cupisnique people, who inhabited the northern coast of Peru around 2,000 and 1,000 BC. The Cupisnique transcended in history for their distinctive adobe clay architecture style, their ceramic artistic style, and their religious symbols.
"The spider on the shrine is associated with water and was an incredibly important animal in pre-Hispanic cultures, which lived according to a ceremonial calendar. There was likely a special, sacred water ceremony held between January and March when the rains came down from the higher areas," Jordan explained.