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2.2.2 Pillared Galleries
The platform in Room 3 (153.05 m
2
) is elevated 1.5 m above the patio floor. It is
formed by a retaining wall holding a fill, with a small stairway (four steps, one landing) at its centre. Atop the platform, eight decorated pillars (with slits forming a
double-step motif) define the gallery space near the back wall.
Excavations throughout the temple reveal that its platforms and some of its
rooms were partially covered by semi-open, shaded areas known as pillared galleries, also found in the Lower Casma and Nepeña valleys at Huambacho, Sute Bajo,
Caylan, Samanco and San Diego (Chicoine, 2006; Chicoine & Ikehara, 2010;
Cotrina, Peña, Tandaypan, & Pretell, 2003; Ghezzi, 1997; Helmer, 2014) and hypothetical reconstructions of the structures have been published (Ikehara &
Chicoine, 2011).
The pillars are rectangular (~1.0 × 0.8 m), built of small tonalite and micaceous
andesite blocks, laid with mortar, and finished with mud; their strip footing
foundation prevented them from sinking into the platform fill, despite the weight of
the superstructure supported. Their original height is unknown, owing to their systematic destruction, but a reasonable estimate is 2 m. Chicoine (2006) found those
at Huambacho to be to 5 m tall, 3 m of which were under the floor. At San Diego,
excavations uncovered a platform with pillars that were sunk 1.8 m into the fill. It
was interpreted that a pillared gallery on a patio, 1.8 m high, had been transformed
into a pillared gallery atop a platform (Ghezzi, 2004).
The pillars at Chankillo are found in rows of four to sixteen—depending on the
length of space to be covered— parallel to and at 2.9–3.5 m from the back wall of
the platform or room. They supported a partial roof made from perishable local
materials, such as cane, covered in mud. The roof was laid between the row of pillars and the nearby wall to form a covered gallery space. The exact dimensions of
any gallery are unknown, but the distances between the pillars and nearby walls are
an indication of the area covered. In the atrium of the Temple of the Pillars, the
central dais of the upper U-shaped platform has the pillars located 3.5 m from the
back wall and 2.15 m from the front wall. In the side arms, they are located on the
edge of the platform, 3.5 m from the back wall, and only 0.5 m from the front wall.
A row of small wooden posts excavated next to this wall suggests that the roof
extended past the platform, covering adjacent staircases. In the platform of Room 3,
the pillars are located 3.3 m from the back wall and 5.7 m from the front wall. Here,
large impressions on the excavated floor indicate that some posts probably lent additional support to the roof, indicating that it may have extended ~10 m from the back
wall, to cover the entire platform. In Room 1, a row of pillars was excavated 2.9 m
from the back wall. These measurements indicate that, although the intention was to
cover as much of the room or platform as possible, the distance between the pillars
and the back wall of the gallery was limited to 3.5 m, probably because this was the
maximum distance a simple cane superstructure could cover without additional
support.
Very little of the pillared galleries has survived. The excavations carried out in
the Temple of the Pillars revealed that the walls, pillars, and religious images were
The Chankillo Solar Observatory and Ceremonial Centre: A Heritage for the World
2.2.2 Pillared Galleries
The platform in Room 3 (153.05 m
2
) is elevated 1.5 m above the patio floor. It is
formed by a retaining wall holding a fill, with a small stairway (four steps, one landing) at its centre. Atop the platform, eight decorated pillars (with slits forming a
double-step motif) define the gallery space near the back wall.
Excavations throughout the temple reveal that its platforms and some of its
rooms were partially covered by semi-open, shaded areas known as pillared galleries, also found in the Lower Casma and Nepeña valleys at Huambacho, Sute Bajo,
Caylan, Samanco and San Diego (Chicoine, 2006; Chicoine & Ikehara, 2010;
Cotrina, Peña, Tandaypan, & Pretell, 2003; Ghezzi, 1997; Helmer, 2014) and hypothetical reconstructions of the structures have been published (Ikehara &
Chicoine, 2011).
The pillars are rectangular (~1.0 × 0.8 m), built of small tonalite and micaceous
andesite blocks, laid with mortar, and finished with mud; their strip footing
foundation prevented them from sinking into the platform fill, despite the weight of
the superstructure supported. Their original height is unknown, owing to their systematic destruction, but a reasonable estimate is 2 m. Chicoine (2006) found those
at Huambacho to be to 5 m tall, 3 m of which were under the floor. At San Diego,
excavations uncovered a platform with pillars that were sunk 1.8 m into the fill. It
was interpreted that a pillared gallery on a patio, 1.8 m high, had been transformed
into a pillared gallery atop a platform (Ghezzi, 2004).
The pillars at Chankillo are found in rows of four to sixteen—depending on the
length of space to be covered— parallel to and at 2.9–3.5 m from the back wall of
the platform or room. They supported a partial roof made from perishable local
materials, such as cane, covered in mud. The roof was laid between the row of pillars and the nearby wall to form a covered gallery space. The exact dimensions of
any gallery are unknown, but the distances between the pillars and nearby walls are
an indication of the area covered. In the atrium of the Temple of the Pillars, the
central dais of the upper U-shaped platform has the pillars located 3.5 m from the
back wall and 2.15 m from the front wall. In the side arms, they are located on the
edge of the platform, 3.5 m from the back wall, and only 0.5 m from the front wall.
A row of small wooden posts excavated next to this wall suggests that the roof
extended past the platform, covering adjacent staircases. In the platform of Room 3,
the pillars are located 3.3 m from the back wall and 5.7 m from the front wall. Here,
large impressions on the excavated floor indicate that some posts probably lent additional support to the roof, indicating that it may have extended ~10 m from the back
wall, to cover the entire platform. In Room 1, a row of pillars was excavated 2.9 m
from the back wall. These measurements indicate that, although the intention was to
cover as much of the room or platform as possible, the distance between the pillars
and the back wall of the gallery was limited to 3.5 m, probably because this was the
maximum distance a simple cane superstructure could cover without additional
support.
Very little of the pillared galleries has survived. The excavations carried out in
the Temple of the Pillars revealed that the walls, pillars, and religious images were
The Chankillo Solar Observatory and Ceremonial Centre: A Heritage for the World