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Ancient (before 500 CE)

Stepped platforms made from tan-colored adobe bricks located on the plaza at Huaca Pucllana
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Huaca Pucllana, Ancient Pyramid in Peru

Huaca Pucllana is a pyramid site built around 500 AD by the Lima culture of Peru. The pyramid was built with seven platforms made from adobe bricks and is around 82 feet (25 meters) high, and has a plaza surrounding it. The pyramid was a site of ceremonial and religious power.

The well-known portrait vessel called Huaco Retrato Mochica, which depicts a man's head wearing a turban with red detailing and a two headed bird on either side.
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Moche Portrait Vessels

Moche portrait vessels are ceramic vessels that often featured only heads, but some also have full human bodies as well, and most are representations of adult men.

Cave painting with red paint outlining hands.
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Cueva de los Manos, Rio Pinturas

Cueva de las Manos, Rio Pinturas is an archealogical site and World Heritage Site in Argentina that features cave art and rock are that dates to around 9500 to 13000 years old.

A light colored, rectangular bead with small, stripe-like markings.
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Shell Pendant or Bead from Ecuador

This pendant or bead was made from a shell and dates back to the 3rd millennium BCE. Found in Ecuador, it was likely made by the Valdivia culture, a people who lived on the western coast and mainly subsisted off fishing and farming and flourished between the years of 3500 BCE - 1500 BCE.

A clay figure with two heads and two female torsos, along with one set of arms and legs. The heads have cap-like hair and slightly detailed faces.
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Ceramic Female Figure from Ecuador

This clay figure dates from the third millennium BCE and is evidence of the earliest known ceramic traditions of any ancient peoples in the Americas. This figure, and many others like it, are from the Valdivia culture of Ecuador.

The mummified remains of a child lay in a container. The child has a clay mask and red painted clay on their body.
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Chinchorro Mummies

The Chinchorro mummies, named for the Chinchorro people of current-day Chile and Peru, are the world’s oldest known examples of intentional mummification. predating Egyptian examples by almost 2,000 years.

Three reddish-brown fragments of potter featuring a human face and geographic patterns.
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Lapita Pottery from the Santa Cruz Islands

This pottery sherd dates from around 1000 BCE and is from the Lapita culture, the likely common ancestor of contemporary Polynesian cultures. This sherd was found in the Santa Cruz Islands, part of the Solomon Islands.

A tan colored stone in the shape of an animal with head at the top and a rounded end.
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Zoomorphic Figure from Papua New Guinea

This stone figure from an unknown culture in ancient Oceania may represent an echidna, which is an egg-laying mammal that is related to the platypus.

A tan-colored stone figure loosely shaped like a bird with a head and beak and two protruding wings on the side. The figure has a flat bottom.
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Bird Stone Figure from Papua New Guinea

This stone figure from ancient Oceania loosely shaped like a bird comes from an unknown ancient culture that lived in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

A brown-colored, stone figure loosely in the shape of a bird with a beak and two small wings.
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Pestle Finial from Papua New Guinea

This image is of a pestle finial in the shape of a bird from an unknown culture in ancient Oceania. Pestles are a tool used for crushing or grinding, often used for cooking ingredients such as spices, and were likely also used with other stone mortars that have been found in the region.