The impressive fortress is located on a series of three hilltops, each ringed with a number of perimeter defensive walls that have parapets and bastions, which stand as testaments to the military nature of the site.

Attention was called to the site early on by the German archaeologist Hans Horkheimer, who wrote about Acaray in 1962 in the Peruvian magazine, Caretas, published in Lima.

She led a team that surveyed the Huaura Valley and excavated at several sites, including the hilltop fort at Acaray.

[2] Around the same time, Peruvian archaeologist Arturo Ruiz Estrada, of the National University José Faustino Sánchez Carrión, and Peruvian engineer Domingo Torero visited the fortress; they wrote a detailed account describing the architectural features of the site.

[3] In 2004, North American archaeologist Margaret Brown Vega, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, began research at Acaray, carrying out intensive mapping, surface analysis, and excavations, which lasted for two years.