Río Seco

archaeological site, Peru

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July 13, 2026

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Río Seco is an archaeological site in Peru, notable for its two pyramids constructed by filling rooms with boulders and then building adobe-walled rooms on top. This construction method, where one structure is buried to serve as a foundation for another, is also seen at the Kotosh site in the central Andes. Río Seco is part of the broader Andean civilization, which flourished for thousands of years before the Spanish conquest, characterized by remarkable artistic and technological achievements across a vast region encompassing parts of modern-day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. The Recuay culture, contemporaneous with the Moche, is also known for its distinctive pottery and stone carving, with sites located in the Callejón de Huaylas Valley.12

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pre-Columbian civilizations
The Late Preceramic
At Río Seco, a few miles to the north, are two pyramids, constructed by filling a group of preexisting rooms with boulders, building adobe-walled rooms on top of them, and finally filling these up also.
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At Río Seco, a few miles to the north, are two pyramids, constructed by filling a group of preexisting rooms with boulders, building adobe-walled rooms on top of them, and finally filling these up also.
Read More