Ventanillas de Otuzco

Ventanillas de Otuzco is a pre-Inca necropolis in the district of Banos del Inca, 8 km northwest of Cajamarca, Peru, at 2,650 meters elevation. The site contains 338 square and rectangular burial niches carved into volcanic rock, averaging 50 cm in height, with some extending up to 10 meters deep. Construction began around 300 BC by a culture predating the Caxamarca and continued until approximately 500 AD. Bodies were first buried in the ground, then select bones and skulls were transferred to the sealed niches. Spanish conquistadors later plundered many tombs. First investigated by Julio Cesar Tello, the father of Peruvian archaeology.