The Peruvian Ministry of Culture recently discovered a 4,000-year-old ceremonial temple buried under a sand dune in the deserts of Peru's Lambayeque region.

Kicking off their excavation in early June, archaeologists at the Los Paredones de la Otra Banda-Las Ánimas Archaeological Complex in northwest Peru were in for a treat. They found what appeared to be the wall of a massive, multistory temple.

The findings were fascinating: friezes depicting mythological figures of human bodies with bird heads, feline figures, and reptilian claws.

The monument features large support stones and the bases of a large platform. At the top, a wall covered with fine plaster and a cool pictorial design were found.

The ruins were uncovered in Peru's Lambayeque region, in the desert district of Zana - about 480 miles north of the capital Lima.

Experts believe this ancient space was once used for "special ceremonies" - not entirely sure what that means, but I have an idea - and they even found the burial of a child, around 5 or 6 years old, from a later period.

In a press release, the project director, Dr. Luis Armando Muro Ynoñán, said the Catholic University of Peru and UCLA are funding the research.

We are probably looking at a five-thousand-year-old religious complex that is an architectural space defined by walls built of mud. We have what would have been a central staircase from which one would ascend to a kind of stage in the central part.

Pretty cool stuff, amirite?

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