The Nazca Lines were made around two millennia ago. 

Nearly Half of the Protected Land Around the Nazca Lines of Peru Is Now Open to Miners

Some environmentalists are concerned about mining operations drawing closer to the ancient landmarks

Conservation work at Gran Pajatén

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover More Than 100 Structures Linked to a Mysterious Pre-Columbian Civilization in the Remote Peruvian Andes

Based in high-altitude urban centers, the Chachapoya resisted conquest by the Inca Empire for centuries

An artistic rendering of the stone chamber where the tubes were discovered

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Say They’ve Discovered a Hidden Chamber Where Elites Used Hallucinogens 2,500 Years Ago

Unearthed in Peru, the small underground room may have been used for rituals involving psychoactive drugs. New research suggests these “exclusive” events were reserved for the elite

The burial was discovered in the remains of a building in an ancient fishing town.

Cool Finds

This Ancient High-Status Woman Was Buried With a Parrot-Feather Cape and a Beaded Toucan’s Beak in Modern-Day Peru

The burial belongs to the ancient Caral culture, the oldest civilization in the Americas

The burials were filled with rich grave goods like pottery and corn cobs.

Archaeologists in Peru Discover Graves of Men, Women and Children Killed in Battle, Then Buried With Honor

The 24 members of the mysterious Chuquibamba culture were interred with valuable grave goods

An aerial view of dredges at an illegal gold mining area in the Amazon region of Peru.

Tree Rings Bear Witness to Illegal Gold Mining Operations in the Amazon, New Study Finds

Mercury concentrations in fig trees could provide useful information about mining activity in the rainforest over time

A man attacked the stone with a metal object.

Man Vandalizes Famed 12-Angled Stone, an Inca Engineering Marvel in Peru

The stone, which sustained damage in six spots, had been carved to fit perfectly in a palace wall hundreds of years ago

Spanish settlers knocked down all but the foundations of the Temple of the Sun, then built a church atop the Inca walls.

New Research

Researchers Have Found an Inca Tunnel Beneath the Peruvian City of Cusco

The dug-out passages may follow the exact path of the Inca capital’s aboveground roads

Researchers studied tattoos on this mummified hand.

New Research

Scientists Are Using Lasers to Reveal Intricate Tattoos on Peruvian Mummies

A new study sheds light on tattoo designs found on more than 100 mummies from Chancay culture, a group that lived on the Peruvian coast between roughly 900 and 1500 C.E.

The Amazon tree boa (Corallus hortulana) is not a new species, but it's one of the reptiles documented on a 2022 expedition to the Alto Mayo region of Peru.

Expedition Discovers 27 New Species in Peru, From an ‘Exceedingly Rare’ Amphibious Mouse to a Blob-Headed Fish

The hidden creatures were found in a densely populated region known for its successful—and controversial—conservation tactics

A painting of a crowned woman with scepter (upper left), a procession of men behind her carrying objects (upper right) and a textile workshop (below) on the wall of an ancient throne room in Peru

Cool Finds

See a Newly Uncovered Throne Room in Peru That May Have Belonged to an Ancient Queen

Built by the Moche people in the seventh century, the stunningly painted space shows signs of heavy use, including an eroded throne and traces of human hair

The researchers' A.I. model can spot geoglyphs' outlines 20 times faster than humans.

Cool Finds

See Newly Discovered Nazca Drawings That Depict Llamas, Human Sacrifices and More

An A.I.-assisted study identified 303 previously unknown geoglyphs in the Peruvian desert. The art features surprising figures, like orcas holding knives

Researchers excavated a crypt in Milan and found human remains containing evidence of cocaine use.

New Research

Europeans Were Using Cocaine in the 17th Century—Hundreds of Years Earlier Than Historians Thought

Scientists identified traces of the drug in the brain tissue of two individuals buried in the crypt of a hospital in Milan

On July 5, Peruvian authorities recovered the mummified remains of American climber Bill Stampfl from the slopes of Huascarán.

Melting Ice Reveals Body of American Mountaineer Missing for 22 Years in the Peruvian Andes

Bill Stampfl, Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine went missing in an avalanche on Huascarán on June 24, 2002. Climbers found Stampfl’s body just weeks ago

The grape family had a complex, tumultuous history of extinction and dispersal in Central and South America.

Did the Extinction of the Dinosaurs Pave the Way for Grapes?

Newly discovered fossils in South America hint at the evolution and proliferation of grapes around the world

The cemetery is located near a Spanish colonial church built in Huanchaco, Peru, around 1535.

New Research

16th-Century Skeletons of Children Infected With Smallpox Discovered in Peru

The toddlers’ remains were buried around the beginning of the Spanish conquest of South America

This artistic interpretation shows what Pebanista yacuruna might have looked like some 16 million years ago.

New Extinct Species of Giant Dolphin Discovered in Peru From a 16-Million-Year-Old Skull

Pebanista yacuruna is the largest freshwater dolphin ever found, but it is more closely related to today’s river dolphins of South Asia than those in the Amazon

Artist Oscar Nilsson spent 400 hours working on the reconstruction.

See the Face of an Inca Teenager Killed in a Ritual Sacrifice 500 Years Ago

The mummified girl, known as “Juanita,” was found in 1995 on Peru’s Ampato volcano

One of the two specimens presented to Mexico's Congress, photographed during a press conference of Mexican journalist and self-proclaimed UFO expert Jaime Maussan, in Mexico City on September 13, 2023.

Alleged Alien Corpses Displayed to Mexican Congress Did Not Convince Scientists

Self-described UFO expert Jaime Maussan, whose claims of extraterrestrials have been debunked in the past, said the specimens were “non-human”

A worker uncovers the mummy, which belonged to the Ychsma culture, buried in a shallow funeral chamber during an excavation in the Huaca Pucllana on September 5, 2023.

Cool Finds

1,000-Year-Old Mummy With a Full Head of Hair Discovered in Peru

The remains belonged to the Ychsma culture, a group that lived in present-day Peru before the Inca came to power

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