Paracas Necropolis

South Coast


A few hundred meters behind the visitor complex on Cerro Colorado are the 5000-year-old remains of a necropolis related to the Paracas culture, which predated the Incas by several thousand years. A stash of more than 400 funerary bundles was found here, each wrapped in many layers of colorful woven shrouds for which the Paracas culture is famous.

There’s little to see now; indeed signs warn you off the site. Some of the exquisite textiles and other objects found here can be found in the Museo Julio C Tello just in front but many more are exhibited in Lima’s Museo Larco and Ica’s Museo Regional de Ica.

Beyond the visitor complex, the tarmac road continues around the peninsula to Puerto General San Martín, the port from which local fish products are exported.


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