First ruins – Huacas del Sol y de la Luna, where we me Jose, our tour
guide, a local artist and a student of ruins!
He provided us with some really great history on the Moche and Chimu
cultures and history of each of the sites. This is one of the only sites where
coloured markings can still be found and are unique in that they were produced
with an inorganic substance. There is also many carvings in the stone walls
that have not yet been washed away by the elements and much care is in place to
ensure they last for future generations. All of these markings tell a story
about their way of life, so much of which is simply unknown. Much of these ruins are still actively being
excavated, with many locations in the area and the surrounding valley! There
will likely be many more finds here over the next number of years. We also visited
La Huaca Arco Iris, a local museum with information on the ways of life for the
Moche and Chimu people.
Each of the bricks that were used to build all
of the structures we’ve visited have a marking, a signature of the individual
who formed the brick. These bricks were
used as a form of payment perhaps as a form of taxes, or maybe another debt to
the city for protection or care – the detail is unknown, but the marks are
clear at each location.
The temples of the Sun and the Moon are more than 700 years older than Chan Chan and are attributed to the Moche period. The Sun temple is the largest single pre Columbian structure in Peru, although about a third of it has been washed away. The structure was built with an estimated 140 million adobe bricks.
Each level in this photo was built by a successive generation, each with photos depicting the life and times of the people. It seems these layers continue, it seems annually, another layer of the onion is peeled back, and a new story told. The square hole near the top is where grave robbers got in years ago.
For lunch, we visited a restaurant touristica, where winners from the
annual competition danced a few local dances for us.
We stopped for a short visit at the dragon temple in the early afternoon. It's fairly small, but thought to be important due to it's strategic location. This is one of the few sites that has not been destroyed by weather, it's placed in a space where run off from the surrounding mountains is naturally diverted, and also has access to a river bed, where water can flow both ways depending on how the bed is arranged so that another temple on the opposite side of the mountain can divert water to this location during its drought time, and in the wet season, this temple can divert water to the other area.
Much of the afternoon was spent at Chan Chan. Built around AD1300, and covering 36
square kms, this is the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas, and the
largest adobe city in the world. At the
height of the Chimu empire, it housed an estimated 60,000 inhabitants and
contained a vast wealth of gold, silver and ceramics. The wealth remained more or less undisturbed
after the city was conquered by the Incas, but once the Spaniards hit the
stage, the looting began. Within a few
decades little but gold dust remained.
El Nino floods and heavy rainfall have severely eroded the mud walls of
the city. The best part of the remains
of this city is its sheer size – although you’ll need a decent imagination to
fill in the details. This Chimu capital
consisted of 9 major cities, or royal compounds. Each contained a royal burial
mound filled with vast quantities of funerary offerings, including dozens of
sacrificed young women and chambers full of ceramics, weaving's and jewelry. The Tschudi complex, named after a Swiss
naturalist, is the only section of Chan Chan that’s partially restored.
The markings here represent sea otters, and the horizontal lines are water.
This design is on all walls surrounding the ceremonial courtyard, although only
the ones nearest the main entrance are actually still original, all others have
been recreated. There are many more walls throughout the complex full of other animals including sea
birds, fish, sea mammals, fishing nets and other sea related items.
For the Chimu, both the moon and the sea were of religious importance,
unlike the Incas, who worshipped the sun. Below, the round circles represent the moon, and the triangles, fishing nets.
Jose explained that they believe this to be used to tell time and dates, although how exactly that's done - we couldn't figure out!
Here, in behind the ceremonial courtyard, we find the main water source for
the complex. Although there were several wells found throughout, this one was
thought to be a sacred space, supplying the daily water needs of the royal
compound.
The final area, which I didn’t grab a photo of, is the Assembly room, with
24 seats set into niches in the walls of this large rectangular room. The
acoustics of each of these spaces is really neat, and acts as a microphone, so
teachings can be heard throughout the room.
This was where elders from across the land gathered to share with the
next generations.
After chatting the entire day with Jose about history and these cultures, he shared with us his art, markings form the Chimu and Moche periods, painstakingly carved into wood, then pressed "the old fashioned way" onto sheets of vellum. There were so many, and a story for each of them. He's hoping to have a showing of his art in a local gallery in the near future - and we have our fingers crossed for him! We even purchased a piece to bring home with us!
