Chan Chan Peru

Chan Chan is the name for a set of ruins just outside of Trujillo Peru.  It is the original name of the place and translates as Sun Sun.  The city was a major and thriving place of the Chimu, but when they were conquered by the Inca in the late 1400s it slowly faded away.

When the Spanish came to power in the area, they established the walled town of Trujillo less then five miles away.  This makes me scratch my head a little.  They went through a lot of effort to establish a new town, wall it, dig wells and all of that instead of clearing out the sand from around the walls of Chan Chan.  the major difference would have been in the size and construction of the walls.  Chan Chan is from a pre-gunpowder era and though the walls are both high and strong, they are not designed to either withstand cannon nor have people walk along the top.

My view is though that they really did not need to withstand cannon in this area, but the adding of a walk way along the top of the wall would have been much less effort than creating a whole new wall.  In addition to that, it would have placed them on top of the looting grounds instead of five miles away.  The Spanish looted quite a few of the graves of Chan Chan, and records claim they took out approx the modern equivalent of $5,000,000 in gold.

The original colours of the place quickly fade when exposed to the elements, and what is left is the natural colour of the clay.  The dominant colours before time and exposure got to them were gold on the walls and bas relief items and white on the floors.

The wall on the right is the exterior wall, with a lower wall on the left separating it from the city and giving a road that went the whole way around the city.

Fish were one of the staple foods, and are shown in the stylized waves, while below them the pelican which the Chimu used to fish for them, much like the cormorant is used in Asia is also displayed in many places.

Fishing nets were also woven from the reeds pictured above, and were given much prominence in the decoration and construction of the walls and dividing areas, including use as windows in some of the domestic areas.

The well above is quite large and part of the area was given over the the growing of the reeds.  The wells were dug to around four meters below the average ground level and were very reliable both in quantity and high quality of water.  Over 17 wells were active in side the walls, with this one being an example of the larger ones, and I did not get the chance to photograph any of the smaller domestic wells.

For the rulers, tombs are unearthed above were created.  After internment, additional celebrations were held and objects of wealth were added for a period of ten years.  After that, the tomb would be sealed.

And last for this post, sea otters.