MONTEGRANDE AND THE MARAÑON CULTURE

Montegrande is the first monumental architecture that marks the birth of religion in the Amazon. Its spiral shape represents the oldest and most universal symbol in the history of mankind; it symbolizes the constant change, transformation and development that the universe goes through and along with it, human beings. Life is movement and this movement is in spiral, it is evolutionary energy. We can also observe this spiral in our DNA chains, the shell of a snail, a tornado, the growth of plants, the movement of a snake and, on the other hand, in dance. It was built 5500 years ago by the inhabitants of the Marañon culture and is located in the province of Jaen, in the region of Cajamarca, in the Upper Amazon of Peru.

The monumental architecture of Montegrande has been built in earth and stone with anti-seismic structures. In the archaeological contexts it has been possible to register diverse funerary contexts some of them of multiple character which were buried to guide the way of those who had just died because they believed in a life after death and those who had died before knew the way and could guide the recently deceased towards the other life. To accompany the tombs they deposited various stone artifacts such as carvings of cacao cobs and seeds. Several pieces have been discovered at this site, such as fullers, ceramics, human burials and other artifacts, as well as the remains of the oldest Theobroma cacao in the world. The inhabitants of this civilization occupied a territory that goes beyond the borders of present-day Peru.