Puruchuco, Archaeological site in Ate District, Lima, Peru

Puruchuco is an archaeological site in Ate District, Lima province, Peru, made up of adobe structures arranged across several levels. The complex shows courtyards, staircases, and rooms with trapezoidal openings that were used for living, administration, and burials.

The Ychsma culture began building the palace during the Late Intermediate Period (1000–1476); the Inca later expanded the complex in the Late Horizon (1476–1532) and kept it as a residence for local curacas. After the empire's fall it was abandoned. Restoration began in 1953 under Francisco Iriarte Brenner and continued by Arturo Jiménez Borja.

The name likely comes from central Quechua puru, the gourd-bearing plant, and chuku, land or country, so Puruchuco means 'land of the gourd'. The site museum, founded in 1960, keeps the great feather hat attributed to the curaca 'Puruchuco' in its general room, beside quipus and a large model of the palace.

The museum at kilometer 4.5 of the Central Highway opens daily and displays finds from excavations, including pottery, textiles, and tools. The site sits at an easily reached point east of Lima and can be visited as a day trip.

Walls were built using large molds filled with mud and plant additives, a technique still found in some rural areas of Peru today. Archaeologists also uncovered one of the largest pre-Columbian cemeteries here, with hundreds of mummies in seated positions.