Templo en U de Infantas, Archaeological site in Los Olivos, Lima, Peru
The Templo en U de Infantas is an archaeological site in the Los Olivos district of Lima, Peru. Its main pyramid, Infantas I, is a large earthen mound 38 metres long, 90 metres wide and 15 to 20 metres high, with no visible walls; worn adobes lie on its flattened top. Infantas II is a low mound with tapia-walled enclosures, once quadrangular in shape.
The site was contemporary with the Chavín culture and dates to around 1000 BC. It originally comprised 20 mounds: a main pyramid with five surrounding mounds, a left arm with two main and six smaller mounds, and a right arm with eight mounds. From the 1990s, construction of the Río Santa, El Olivar and Santa Luisa urbanizations and the Los Rosales de Pro settlement destroyed most of them; only Huaca Infantas I and II remain.
The site is used by local residents in ways that have changed its original appearance over time. A cross stands on top of the main pyramid, and a football field sits directly in front of it.
To reach the site, you cross a bridge and walk through residential streets until you find the Sidney factory behind some houses. From there, the main structure is accessible on foot, though people sometimes live on the grounds.
A nearby site called Infantas II is actually a fragment of a side arm of the same temple, separated from the main structure and also marked by a cross. Accounts from past years mention the discovery of burials and ancient objects in the surrounding area.
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