Caral, Peru - July 08, 2025 The Caral site, one of the most important archaeological sites in Peru and all of South America, has a new gem open to the public after eight years of excavations. Called Peñico, experts consider it a "city of social integration" due to its strategic location, which connected the populations of the Supe and Huaura valleys, but also due to the large number of homes, public buildings, and ceremonial spaces it once housed. Although the Caral culture developed primarily between 3000 and 1800 BC (which, given its age, places it within a society with a development and chronology comparable to Ancient Egypt), the city of Peñico began to develop a little later, around 1800 and 1500 BC. Among the 18 structures discovered during the excavations and now on public display, a ceremonial hall stands out: "We don't know its exact boundaries," Mauro Ordóñez, head of the Peñico archaeological site, explained to the media. "This building continues to extend from east to west. The most interesting aspect is the composition of several antechambers: one of them stands out for having friezes depicting pututus on its sides." Pututus are objects, also known as churus (the Quechua word for a mollusk, shell, or snail). They are wind instruments originally made from a seashell that was large enough to emit a powerful sound. Ordóñez believes this is evidence of the close relationship with other pre-Columbian groups in northern Peru.