MYSTERIOUS ‘TEMPLE OF THE CROSSED HANDS’ – ONE OF THE OLDEST

STRUCTURES IN PERU

A. Sutherland – AncientPages.com – Temple of the Crossed Hands (Templo de Las Manos

Cruzadas) in Kotosh, Peru is considered one of the oldest temples in Peru and America
and dates back to 4000 years ago.

The first evidence of massive stone constructions from about 2000 BC suggests that
complicated building work began here centuries before anywhere else on the American
continent.

Adobe reliefs in the Temple of the Crossed Hands Stone-Miller, Rebecca. Art of the Andes. Second
edition. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2002. Photo credits: wiki.sumaqperu
b. The culture of Kotosh Waira-Jirca (1800-1300 BC) was concentrated in the Huánuco River
basin, only 6km from Huánuco along the La Unión road.

More or less permanent settlement at the Kotosh ancient site predates the Chavín era by more
than a thousand years, then it continued throughout the Inca occupation, right up to the
Conquest.
Today, more than four thousand years old ‘Temple of the Crossed Hands’ lies in ruins and is
poorly maintained.

The most unique feature of the Kotosh complex is the crossed-hands symbol carved prominently in
stone on the temple walls
c. The site was excavated by the Japanese archaeologists, sometime between 1958
and 1962 and revealed many interesting structures, and some of the oldest known
sculptures in the Americas, representing both technical and artistic complexity.

Square in plan, this temple has a single entrance with a niche on each side facing
inwards. Below each niche, modelled in mud plaster, is a pair of crossed human forearms,
some of which are larger than the others suggesting perhaps a male/female duality.
Around the interior of the temple is a low stone bench; there is a fire-pit in the center of
the floor.

Kotosh – Temple of the Crossed Hands, the oldest archeological structure of the Andes.
D. The most unique feature of the Kotosh complex is the crossed-hands symbol carved
prominently in stone on the temple walls and related to a very early culture about which
archeologists unfortunately know not much.

The symbol of ‘crossed human forearms‘ also decorates Peru’s Nuevo Sol coin.

The new coin – reflecting Peru’s history and traditions – features the Kotosh archeological site,
Huanuco region, built around 1800 BC. Photo: El Comercio
E. The crossed arm design is believed to be the earliest example of “duality,” a central
theme which was represented in Andean Ideology through the time of the Incas.
F. Temple of the Crossed Hands at Kotosh. Cotton Pre-Ceramic. Stone-Miller, Rebecca.
Art of the Andes. Second edition. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2002.

One set of arms has the left hand crossed over the right while the other pair on the
opposite wall have the right hand over the left. It has been suggested that one pair of arms
may represent the feminine because of their smaller size, while the larger arms represent
the masculine.

Although in recent years have been discovered older than Kotosh temples, this particular
temple is still one of the most important archaeological sites in Peru.

First version of this article was published on August 12, 2015

Written by – A. Sutherland AncientPages.com Staff Writer