Cerro Sechín, Archaeological site in Casma District, Peru

Cerro Sechín is an archaeological site in Casma Province, Áncash, Peru, consisting of a rectangular stone temple with rounded corners and a perimeter wall of about 300 carved monoliths, enclosing an earlier adobe building. A double staircase leads to the top at about 4 meters; the main temple measures 51 square meters.

The site dates back to the second millennium BC and belongs to the oldest known ceremonial centers in Peru. Discovered in the late nineteen thirties, the grounds testify to early societies that lived in the coastal region.

The name Sechín comes from the nearby river, and the site is also called Sechín de las Estelas after its carved monoliths. The facade shows two kinds of figures: warrior-priests holding a weapon or scepter, and dismembered victims with severed heads, limbs and entrails. Julio C. Tello read the scene as a battle commemorating a victory, while Federico Kauffman Doig saw sacrifices to counter famine.

Access is via an unpaved road that branches off the Panamericana highway, and the grounds can easily be explored on foot. A small museum next to the entrance displays finds and explains the discovery history.

The carved slabs may be the oldest known monumental sculpture in the central Andes. About 200 of the roughly 300 monoliths were found still in their original positions; the largest stones reach about nine feet in height.