Casma-Sechin Geoglyphs
Sechin Bajo Geoglyphs · Casma Valley Lines
Initial Period to Early Intermediate (Sechin-Recuay)·Casma-Sechin / Recuay·🇵🇪 Ancash Region, Casma Province, Peru
About
About Casma-Sechin Geoglyphs
5 km of Casma Valley. Distinct from the nearby Sechin Alto temple but contemporaneous, the ensemble comprises 12+ cleared-line figures including felines, raptors, stepped fret and 40-m anthropomorphs executed by scraping dark patinated pavement to expose light alluvium. Surface ceramics associate the lines with Initial Period Casma/Sechin culture (1800-1000 BCE) and later Recuay reuse. Unlike Nazca's pecked trench, Casma uses broad 1-2 m wide swaths and low cairn borders visible only from the adjacent ridgeline.
Systematic drone-photogrammetry by Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (2018-2022) mapped 14 km of lines feeding a processional axis toward Sechin Bajo's circular sunken plaza. Aggregate footprint is small but stratigraphically sealed, making Casma the northernmost Andean geoglyph tradition and a precursor to Pampa Colorada.
Why it mattersNorthernmost Andean geoglyph tradition bridging Caral-Supe and Nazca-Palpa.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Feline link to Sechin stelae
Theories
- 01Processional way linking Casma hamlets
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1800-1000 BCE
- Period
- Initial Period to Early Intermediate (Sechin-Recuay)
- Culture
- Casma-Sechin / Recuay
- Builders
- Casma valley agro-ceremonial communities
- Purpose
- Processional marking and ritual pathway to Sechin Bajo plaza
- Abandoned
- c.400 CE
- Rediscovered
- 1937 Julio C. Tello; 2018 PUCP drone survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1800 BCE
Earliest cleared lines associated with Sechin Bajo
1937
Tello records camino epimural
2019
PUCP maps 14 km of lines
On the ground
Structures & features
9.4920° S · 78.2560° W · 185 m · 2 mapped features
Feline Geoglyph
geoglyph22-m feline with spiral tail
9.4880° S · 78.2580° WAnthropomorph Swath
geoglyph42-m anthropomorph with rayed headdress
9.4950° S · 78.2540° W
Gallery