14 DAY TRIAL // Construction workers in Peru have recently destroyed an ancient pyramid that was part and parcel of one of the oldest archaeological site in the Americas.
The site, dubbed El Paraiso, is located close to Lima, Peru's capital city.
The pyramid was brought down on June 29. In a recent statement, Peru's culture ministry explains that the ancient monument destroyed by the workers measured 6 meters (20 feet) in height.
Its base covered approximately 2,500 meters (roughly 3,000 yards), the ministry further detailed.
By the looks of it, the people who destroyed the pyramid did not settle for just tearing it down. On the contrary, they also set the resulting rubble on fire.
Sources say that, at the time when police officers arrived at El Paraiso and noticed what had happened to the ancient construction, the workers were busy trying to tear down other pyramids found in the proximity of the one they had already brought down.
High officials in Peru were quick to describe the destruction of this 5,000-year-old monument as an “attack on the cultural heritage of the nation.”
Archaeologists called at the site to assess the extent of the damage the construction workers had caused to the pyramid said that, unfortunately, rebuilding the monument was out of the question.
Authorities have managed to identify and track down the property developers that ordered the construction workers to clear the land at El Paraiso for urban development.
The property developers have been arrested, and are now facing criminal charges. Given the gravity of their actions, they risk being made to spend as many as eight years in prison.
Ironically enough, the destruction of this pyramid occurred just five months after an archaeologist named Marco Guillen had warned that the El Paraiso archaeological site needed additional protection in order to prevent companies and workers from carrying out illegal urban development activities.