In a remote valley of the Ecuadorian Andes, researchers have located a pre-Columbian temple featuring advanced astronomical engineering. Dubbed the 'Temple of the Obsidian Sightlines,' the structure dates back to approximately 200 BCE and belongs to a little-known transitional culture of the Northern Highlands. The temple is constructed from volcanic basalt and features narrow windows aligned specifically to the positions of the stars in the constellation Pleiades during the harvest season.
The most striking feature of the site is the inclusion of highly polished obsidian mirrors embedded in the floors, which were used to capture and reflect starlight onto specific murals within the chambers. This discovery challenges current understanding of early high-altitude civilizations in the region, suggesting they possessed complex knowledge of celestial mechanics and optical engineering centuries earlier than previously suspected.