Mysterious Animal-Shaped Structures Are Oldest Known

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Two mounds at El Paraíso as viewed from Google Earth Pro. Line A is from a temple whose central floor area was covered with charcoal to the 'eye of the condor', also made of ash and charcoal. The alignment is 33.6°, the extreme of the Milky Way. Line B is across two raised circular offering chambers to a sunken circular platform in the lower mound. It has an alignment of 63.3°, approximately the June solstice sunrise.

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View the recently discovered animal-shaped mounds in Peru
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Look clearly man-made and, especially considering the alignment, intentional.

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The El Paraíso condor lines up with this stone sculpted to resemble a condor head. Stone condors are common in the Andes; this is the first one found on the coast. Viewed from the entrance to a 4,000 year old temple at the site, the sun rises over this pillar during the equinox.

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Of course, the other explanation for why these mounds have gone unnoticed for so long could be that they aren't animal representations whatsoever. After all, we humans have a knack for seeing things (like animals) that aren't really there — especially in geological features; who's to say that the animal-mounds Benfer has spotted aren't just, well, mounds?

For one thing, there are several of them. One mound in the shape of a duck (pictured left middle, click to enlarge) isn't enough evidence to say that these effigies were created intentionally; but four mounds, all in the shape of animals important to the region, all along the Peruvian Coast? That's a lot easier to believe.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence yet, however, is where the mounds are located. Benfer describes the significance of the two mounds featured here (the condor and the crouching monster, pictured on the left and right, respectively):

Two mounds at El Paraíso as viewed from Google Earth Pro. Line A is from a temple whose central floor area was covered with charcoal to the 'eye of the condor', also made of ash and charcoal. The alignment is 33.6°, the extreme of the Milky Way. Line B is across two raised circular offering chambers to a sunken circular platform in the lower mound. It has an alignment of 63.3°, approximately the June solstice sunrise.