Chimú culture

The Chimú are the residents of Chimor, with its capital at the city of Chan Chan, a large adobe city in the Moche Valley of present-day Trujillo city.

The culture arises about 900 CE.

The Inca ruler Tupac Inca Yupanqui leads a campaign that conquersthe Chimú around 1470.This is just fifty years before the arrival of the Spanish in the region.

Consequently, Spanish chroniclers are able to record accounts of Chimú culture from individuals who had lived before the Inca conquest.

Similarly, archaeological evidence suggests Chimor grew out of the remnants of Moche culture; early Chimú pottery has some resemblance to that of the Moche.

Their ceramics are all black, and their work in precious metals is very detailed and intricate.The Chimú reside on the north coast of Peru.

The valley plains are very flat and well-suited to irrigation, which is probably as old as agriculture here.

Fishing is also very important and is almost considered as important as agriculture.

The Chimú are known to have worshipped the moon, unlike the Inca, who worship the sun.

The Chimu view the sun as a destroyer.

This is likely due to the harshness of the sun in their desert environment.

Offerings play an important role in religious rites.

A common object for offerings, as well as one used by artisans, is the shell of the Spondylus shellfish, which live only in the warm coastal waters off present-day Ecuador.

It is associated with the sea, rainfall, and fertility.

Spondylus shells are also highly valued and traded by the Chimú.

The Chimú are best known for their distinctive monochromatic pottery and fine metal working of copper, gold, silver, bronze, and tumbaga (copper and gold).

The pottery is often in the shape of a creature, or has a human figure sitting or standing on a cuboid bottle.

The shiny black finish of most Chimú pottery is achieved by firing the pottery at high temperatures in a closed kiln, which prevents oxygen from reacting with the clay.

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