Cahuachi

The ceremonial capital of the Nazca culture, covering roughly 24 square kilometres of desert about 28 km west of Nazca town. Cahuachi consists of over 40 mounds built from adobe bricks, the largest rising about 20 metres above the plain. It was the religious and political centre of the Nazca world from around 100 BC to 500 AD.

Most of what you see today is still largely unexcavated — centuries of wind erosion and looting have reduced the mounds to rounded hills. Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici has been excavating here since 1982, and the ongoing dig has yielded thousands of ceramics, textiles, and mummies. Tours from Nazca town typically combine Cahuachi with a flyover of the Lines or a stop at the Antonini Museum.

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A story
Cahuachi was not a city but a pilgrimage site — researchers found almost no evidence of permanent residential occupation. The vast adobe mounds were raised and ceremonially abandoned in cycles, with offerings buried in the walls. Despite its scale, it remained largely unknown outside Peru until systematic excavation began in the 1980s.

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