Anthropomorphic forms, motifs of fishing nets and the Andes night sky, and renderings of coastal flora and fauna are among the designs adorning an ancient mural discovered unexpectedly last month in northern Peru. The once multicolored artwork, local archeologists said in a statement, bears “previously unknown decorative techniques and symbolic imagery” and warrants increased protection measures by authorities as the area faces urgent preservation threats. Uncovered by a team of archaeologists led by Ana Cecilia Mauricio, a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, the work is a remnant of an interior atrium from a ceremonial temple dating back more than 3,000 years. The nearly 20-feet-long mural was found at the Huaca Yolanda site in La Libertad, an area distinguished by its Indigenous cultural heritage, namely that of the Moche civilization (approximately 100–800 CE). “This mural at Huaca Yolanda is unique,” Mauricio said in a statement. “Nothing like it has ever bee...