• Huaca Melgarejo. This very large archaeological site is located in the La Molina district, east of the central city, at the 11th block of La Fontana avenue, on the banks of the Ate-La Molina canal, which begins at the height of Santa Clara. The canal runs almost parallel to the Rímac river, turning south at the current Cristal brewery, to join the grounds of Surco.
Here there are archaeological remains of a huaca, named Melgarejo because it was a Hacienda and farm of the same name—the old property of the Melgarejo family. The huaca is claimed to have been built between 300 and 600 AD by the Lima culture that once occupied this valley, though it was likely built before that time. Today, though well known, the site in Lima is nonetheless under-utilized and in need of conservation treatment.
This impressive construction was an important monument and part of a ceremonial complex. It was used as a place for ceremonies, and much later as a cemetery. What is still visible is a stepped platform pyramid, ramps, and previously painted walls. Due to its size, it has been assumed that the temple and complex was a very important place, which also served as an administrative center.
Today there is a path that leads through the various parts of the structure, with green spaces surrounding the Huaca, as well as playgrounds and an amphitheater, where small events occasionally occur and where people meet to chat. The huaca is not yet restored and for a long time, not all the buildings were protected, so the upkeep has been organized again and again to eliminate the garbage and graffiti on some of the walls.
Melgarejo remains quite eroded, of what was a great pyramid. The building has several construction phases, the product of continuous remodeling and expansion of the structures. Inside the complex, there is a succession of large retaining walls and fillings, as well as small enclosures, ramps, stairs, and sidewalks. The platform has been built with brick walls, adobitos and fillings. In the upper part of the building, a set of small passageways and rectangular-shaped enclosures have been found. Some enclosures have sidewalks and post footprints, which would indicate that they had been roofed.
An aerial view of Melgarejo showing the encroachment of urban sprawl on the site and its deterioration from lack of care and local traffic
Access to these enclosures was restricted, communicating with them through narrow openings. The floors were found clean, which is a fairly common feature of this type of structure. The walls were originally painted, and all these rooms were carefully sealed with stone and mud fillings as part of a ritual of burial of the structures when they were abandoned or there was an expansion.
Archaeologists have concluded that Melgarejo complexis similar to Maranga and Pucllana; however, unlike these, Melgarejo seems to have been abandoned before the beginning of the Second Horizon or Middle Horizon (600 AD). Recent excavations, promoted by the municipality, have uncovered, at its peak in former times, the foundations of a colonial house.
(Image D – What is left of Mangomarca after centuries of weather and neglect
• Huaca Mangomarca. This Ancient Pyramid of the Pre-Columbian culture at the complex of Mangomarca (Manqu Marka, meaning the “Lord’s Village”), also known as the Mangomarca Huaca or Mangomarca New Temple, is located in the Lower Rímac Valley, at block 20 of Santuario Avenue, in the Mangomarca urbanization of the district of San Juan de Lurigancho in Lima.
It is a temple-complex made of tapial and adobe, which flourished during the Late Intermediate, as capital of the Curacazgo of Lurigancho or Ruricancho, which obeyed the Lord of the region. Sitting at 720 feet elevation, on the right bank of the Rímac River and surrounded by Andean hills or foothills, greening during the winter (June to September). Other important archaeological pyramidal complexes of Campoy Fortress, Canto Chico and Lurigancho Hill, are nearby. Mangomarca was a political, economic and cultural center of importance and the seat of a curacazgo called Lurigancho or Ruricancho, which obeyed the mighty Señorío Ichma, which dominated the valleys of the Rímac and Lurín, with Pachacamac as its largest ceremonial center.
Later, the Ichma Culture, which dominated the region, allied themselves with their neighbors the Colleq, from the low valley of the Chillón (Collique), and kept the invasion of the yauyos and chacllas from the Andean zones, but was conquered by the Inca in 1470 AD, at which time Mangomarca, the Ichma and Collique were annexed to the Tahuantinsuyo.
An aerial view of the Mangomarca complex
The huaca Mangomarca extends over an extensive and rocky area, its main construction being a stepped pyramidal structure, raised on a rocky mamelon and whose access was achieved by a curved staircase. It is built from small briks of dried adobes. The tapial was a technique that consisted in the construction of walls based on a mixture of stones and mud, with which large adobones formed, similar to the current technique of concrete emptying. There are also large walls of containment, as well as a complicated system of enclosures and passageways, surrounded by a tapiries beltway. It appears that it was not exclusively ceremonial, but also residential. On the other hand, two large cemeteries with tombs constituted by rectangular chambers stand out, covered inwardly with rustic stone settled with mud.
Unfortunately, this complex has lost 70% of its original structure, and has been completely abandoned by the people and government of Peru. Residents in the surrounding areas used it as a dump for many years; however, in recent years, the Ministry of Culture has recently marked and properly identified the site, and placed perimeter fence around the site as they try to restore what is left of the complex.
Video of a walk around on Huaca Melgajero. At 4:40 she points to a spire of the Lima Temple in the distance. 😁
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