The 26 pyramids of Túcume

Túcume is in the desert of northern Peru, a few miles inland from the coast, and is a little studied archeological site on about 500 acres of 26 crumbling adobe structures. It was the final capital of the Sicán culture, descendants of the Moche people who flourished in the region from about 750 to 1375 AD. The structures look like giant melting ice cream cones due to erosion over the centuries. They were built using hundreds of thousands of adobe bricks. Each brick has a stamp which identifies the family responsible for making it. The pyramids functioned as ceremonial and funerary sites. The roof on top is where archeologists are working.

The Sicán people were known for their agricultural achievements and for an advances in metallurgy. They used a lost-wax (mold cast) technique to produce gold ornaments and the manufacture of arsenical copper, which is the closest material to bronze found in pre-Columbian societies. They produced alloys of gold, silver and copper in vast quantities. The wood from algarrobo (carob) trees seen here was used to achieve 1000º centigrade temperatures needed for this work. The fire was created by men blowing through ceramic pipes. It can't have been a healthy occupation.

The Sicán engaged in long distance trade, acquiring prized spondylus shells from Ecuador, emeralds and diamonds from Colombia, lapis stone from Chile, and gold from the Peruvian highlands. This culture was absorbed by the Chimú people who ruled here until about 1470 AD.

Our tour group is headed toward the hill above, known as Purgatory Hill. It is said that the Spanish dressed as demons atop the hill and threw non believers to their deaths below.

We were satisfied with reaching the first lookout, and passed on the upper segment. We could look for miles around the Lambayeque Valley, one of the largest on the coast of Peru.

There is some archeological work being done here. But the challenge in Peru is that this requires careful and expensive work. And when artifacts are discovered, they must be preserved in museums that require funds on a large scale. Much history still lies under tons of adobe in many regions of the country. New locations are still being discovered.

Temples of the Sun and the Moon

(Click on images to enlarge)
The Temple of the Sun (Huaca del Sol) on the south bank of the Moche River near Trujillo, Peru, is a Moche structure about 1,500 years old. It is the largest single pre-Columbian structure in Peru. Although about a third of the original structure has washed away, it is estimated that it once contained about 140 million adobe bricks. It has not yet been excavated.

The nearby Temple of the Moon (Huaca de la Luna) is smaller, and was built in successive stages over 600 years. Each century represents another layer of construction. Excavation began in 1991 at the top level, and only three levels have been uncovered so far. It appears to have been used as a ceremonial and religious center, which includes human sacrifice.


The top layers have been degraded by looting, rain and wind. But the third layer seems relatively untouched. This shows the remarkable polychrome friezes in their original state. They have not been restored, only cleaned.

No open spaces were found. After completing the friezes, they were walled in with adobe, which accounts for the preservation of shapes and colors. This is a land of dry desert. But occasional weather, including El Niño years, have taken a toll on the surface layers.



Below is the view from the highest point on the huaca, looking toward the Huaca del Sol and the Moche Valley. On the desert below are excavations of living quarters of the Moche people. These are very recent, some only begun this year.

The Lord of Sipán

Today I had the opportunity to visit significant archeological sites and a wonderful museum in northern Peru, near Chiclayo, about 500 miles north of Lima. After reading books about this remarkable find I was able to see objects of metalwork, ceramics, shell beadwork and more of the Moche civilization. One of several ancient cultures, the Moche thrived around 100-850 a.d.

Little was known about this people until 1987, when archeologists uncovered ancient burials close to the village of Sipán. The site is called Huaca Rajada. A huaca is a ceremonial mound of mud bricks, and they are found in many parts of coastal Peru. At first glance, the huaca looks like a giant glob of melting ice cream.

But on closer examination, you can occasionally see the adobe bricks that were used in the construction hundreds of years ago.

Sipán is an agricultural region southeast of Chiclayo. Principal crops are sugar cane, rice and beans. Ample water flows from the nearby Andes mountains, creating favorable conditions for people to live in the valleys along the rivers. Several civilizations have thrived here for 5,000 years or more.



Though looters had invaded much of the area, this tomb was discovered intact in 1987. It has been excavated and studied by archeologists, who found that succeeding civilizations had used the same burial huaca for centuries. Each group buried their elite rulers on top of the previous group. Excavation took years to complete, and many objects of gold, silver and copper were cleaned and placed in a museum in Lambayeque, north of Chiclayo. Replicas of the contents of the tomb can be seen here.

This is the museum of the royal tombs, Museo de las Tumbas Reales, in the town of Lambayeque. It was completed in 2002. The displays are placed on levels corresponding to their location in the tomb, so one begins from the top to view the most recent burials. The oldest objects are at the street level. It is possible that more burials are still below the latest excavations in the huaca.