Huaca Pucllana, whose name means 'sacred place for ritual games' in Quechua, was the ceremonial and administrative heart of the Lima culture from 200–700 AD. Its architects developed an ingenious construction method now called the 'bookshelf' technique, stacking adobe bricks vertically with spaces between them. This made the massive structure surprisingly flexible and resistant to the region's frequent earthquakes, a primary reason it survives today. After the Lima culture declined, the site was