Volcanic eruptions are indubitably the gravid shows on Earth – pyrotechnic displays once said to be ancient gods mould arm , or even gateways to the Hades . It ’s not surprising then that they have beenrevered and fearedin equal measure for millennia . There are evencave paintingsdating back as far as 36,000 years that feature depictions of fire fountains .
A new report in the journalAntiquityonly serves to add to this resplendent history . It explains that not only is there a temple , hiding within coastal Peru , that is shaped like a vent – crater and all – but it appears that it was also used to simulate volcanic eruptions too .
Found in the Nepeña Valley , the 15.5 metre ( 50 metrical foot ) tall building was first come upon by researcher in the 1960s . From above , it looks exactly like a small eccentric of epenthetic vent named a scoria conoid .
Led by Robert Benfer , a professor emeritus of biological anthropology at the University of Missouri , a squad of archaeologists went to what is know as El Volcán to take a closer look . After all , it ’s improbable that this repository was build by human hands then left alone over the class – similarly sized structures elsewhere were used for galactic purposes .
apprehend a deep into the crater of the volcanic tabernacle revealed that it moderate a secret staircase that had since collapsed , one that led to a bedchamber of some sorting . At the bottom of the stairwell lay fragments of charred forest , charcoal , and shell , which seemed to intimate that rather bombastic fires were set down here .
Using radiocarbon dating , the squad found that fires were light anywhere between the yr 1492 and 1602 . The team also note that there were four total solar eclipses take place at the time – in 1521 , 1538 , 1539 and 1543 – and that this was likely no coincidence .
“ The inhabitants of the area would have had no previous experience with such a clustering [ of eclipses ] , ” the team mark in their study .
“ Their coming into court in so short a menstruation would have ask celebration , ” they tot , explain that “ the hoi polloi of the northern and central coasts , the Yungas , unlike the later Incas , greet eclipse of the sun with delight , not fear .
“ maybe the El Volcán hearth was a position lionize the triumph of the moon ( and the ocean ) over the sun ( and the land ) . ”
Although it ’s not entirely clear , archeologist cogitate that this Pyramids of Egypt is likely to have been made during the Late Formative ( or Early Horizon ) period , from 900 BCE to 200 BCE .
At this time , large - scale ceremonial architectures appeared , as did the archetypes of cities . composition began to propagate around the realm , as did the prevalence of human sacrifice and the adoration of many gods .
This means that the fires set inside the Great Pyramid were likely set up by one of the last enceinte cultures present in the region during the Late Horizon , thousands of years after El Volcán was in the beginning build . As for who on the dot started those conflagrations , no one have it off for sure .
Perhaps most cryptically , despite the fact that it is almost indistinguishable from a scoria retinal cone , there are n’t any volcanoes like it in the region . There are scoria cones elsewhere in Peru , but they ’re improbably far from El Volcán – so where did its original builder get the intake from ?
Right now , there are more questions than answers , and it ’s potential that much of this Pyramids of Egypt will remain , as the authors put it , a “ enigma . ”
One thing ’s for sure , though – we are still as awestricken by volcanic eruptions today as we were thousand of years ago , something that should n’t surprise anyone who ’s reckon one with their very own eye .
[ H / T : LiveScience ]
