Peru: 3,200 years old mural of pre-contact Spider deity found

The Cupisnique site was mostly destroyed when local farmers wanted to expand their crops, but thanks to researchers, the mural was discovered.

A brown widow spider (photo credit: MATTHEW FIELD/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
A brown widow spider
(photo credit: MATTHEW FIELD/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
A 3,200 years old mural of a pre-contact culture was discovered in Peru after local farmers destroyed 60% of the site when they were expanding their crops, the Guardian reported on Thursday. 
 
The mural of a knife holding spider-deity researchers believe is associated with water was discovered on the wall of a temple serving the Cupisnique, a thousand-year-long civilization that ended in roughly 500 BC.  
 
The spider had been very important in pre-Hispanic cultures, archaeologist Regulo Franco Jordan told La Republica. He suggested that a sacred ritual existed to mark the coming of water from higher areas between January and March. 
 
The site is near one discovered earlier known as Castillo de Tomabal. 
 
Last year a huge cat was found etched among the famous Nazca lines in Peru.