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It has been confirmed that Punkurí was a temple made by the inhabitants of the Sechín Culture, given the characteristics of its structure and a study of its approximate chronological age. It is not ruled out that it was in force during the development of cultures after this one.

It presents a temple that for centuries remained buried "to a large extent, by a mass of earth and mud that seems to have spread throughout the valley." It was discovered by Julio C. Tello in 1933. It affects the pyramidal structure of the coastal huacas . According to Tello, ´´the lower floor contained stone structures with ornamental walls in the classic Chavín style. These structures were demolished, and later used as the foundation of the new buildings of the middle floor, and this, in turn, served for those of the upper floor. As in the case of Cerro Blanco, on the two lower floors remains of what seems to be the Chavín culture: an idol made of stone and clay, a figure representing a feline painted in different colors; a tomb containing the corpse of a sacrificed woman, in association with a snail shell (strombus galeatus), a patio embroidered with turquoise lamellae, and a mortar fitted with its respective tamper, both made of diorite, and polished and engraved with figures of the style Chavín classic. On the middle floor they had the walls made of conical adobes and adorned with incised figures and painted on a surface previously in lucida, and the remains of several buried chambers with wall paintings´´.



30 km. from Chimbote (20 minutes by car) Punkurí is an archaeological site between the towns of Nepeña and San Jacinto, on the right bank of the Nepeña River, Santa province, Áncash department, in Peru.



Thanks to the work of the Peruvian archaeologist Lorenzo Samaniego sent by the Universidad Nacional del Santa, as well as Agroindustrias San Jacinto, the work to enhance this representative temple of Punkurí has ​​been started, which has been recognized as intangible and dedicated to research, observation and visits through a small site museum, a botanical garden, as well as a scale replica of the Punkurí idol, all of which will contribute to further appreciate the past of the region, especially the valleys of Nepeña , Casma and Lacramarca; All of this is only a first step to rescue the many testimonies of the Ancash past.

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