Montegrande (archaeological site)
Montegrande is an archaeological site in the Cajamarca department of Jaén province in Jaén District, Peru, a spiral temple or enclosure built c. 3000 BCE, by a culture that overlapped the current border with Ecuador. At 5000 years old, the site is as old as Caral. The site is located at the outskirts of the town of Jaén, Peru. Excavations Excavations began in 2009 with funding from the Andean Community, for eight Ecuadorian archaeologists, led by Francisco Valdez, and nine Peruvian archaeologists, directed by Quirino Olivera. On the Peruvian side, the sites of Casual and Las Juntas in Bagua, were excavated, as well as at Montegrande and San Isidro in Jaén. Until then it had been thought that the sites were simply hills, on top of which the pre-Inca culture had left some remains. Constructions so ancient in that area of the Peruvian jungle had not been considered. Only archaeologist Julio C. Tello had postulated (circa 1920) an Amazonian origin for Andean culture, but other researchers dismissed this at the time. Atop Montegrande hill the foundations of an abandoned, half-built Catholic church were found. The place had become a dump and smoking place. The site was cleared and the modern