Chimu

• Chimor

• Late Sicá

1100–480 BP (AD 900-1520)

Follows the Moche tradition and precedes the Inka tradition.

The spatial core of the Chimu tradition was the Moche Valley of the North Coast of Peru. Its maximal extent was along the Pacific Coast approximately from the Huarmey Valley north to the Piura Valley and possibly the Tumbes Valley of far northern Peru, a distance of some thousand kilometers.

Finely burnished black-ware ceramics, including stirrup-spout vessels with such surface treatments as panels of raised stippling or repeated waves, appliqué animal, human and mythic figures. Mold-made adobes used to construct rectilinear compounds enclosing architectural features such as baffled entries, ramps, benches and niches; interior walls decorated with sculpted reliefs depicting waves, fish, pelicans, and other maritime motifs. Settlement patterns vary, but may range from large urban centers to small rural hamlets.

• Cerro la Virgen

• Chan Chan

• El Milagro de San Jose

• El Milagro de San Jose

• Manchan

• Quebrada Santa Cristina

The Peruvian coast normally receives only fifteen to forty millimeters of precipitation because the cold waters of the northward-flowing Humboldt or Peruvian current inhibit near-shore evaporation, creating a coastal desert. Seasonal rainfall to the east in the Andes flows westward down arable river valleys with runoff reaching the coastal plain in late January, peaking between February and April, and tapering off in May. Periodically, El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events disrupt this pattern, creating torrential rainfall, disruption of marine habitats and general destruction. Extrapolating from ice core data collected in southern Peru, the Chimu experienced a century of drier than normal climate (1050–950 BP) followed by four centuries of wetter than average climate. Against the backdrop of those general trends, major climatic disruptions associated with ENSO events may have occurred at 1050 BP and 650–600 BP.

The North Coast of Peru is an area of dramatic topographic variety. The western slopes of the Andes rise from sea level to over 6,000 m in less than 150 km, creating a complex environmental mosaic along the gradient. The western slope of the Andean cordillera is incised by numerous river valleys, most of which run west into the Pacific Ocean. The deserts between the valleys are expanses of bare rock and dunes without vegetation. In contrast, the coastal valleys are fertile bands of farmland that can support two or three harvests a year with sufficient water. The Chimu tradition developed in the lower river valleys of the north coast of Peru where arable land and rich marine habitats coincide. For millennia the coastal valleys were the loci of settled life and agriculture, and this was particularly true for the Chimu.

The steep Andean foothills consist of a Cretaceous batholith of granodiorite to granite, much of it uplifted during the Miocene and early Pliocene. At various points along the Pacific, formations of andesitic volcanic rocks create coastal headlands. Surface geology is shaped by fluvial, alluvial, marine and aeolian deposits. It has been suggested that tectonic uplift was an important factor in the recent past. Some scholars hypothesize that tectonic uplift disrupted Chimu irrigation systems, while others contend that there is no evidence of Holocene uplift within the Chimu heartland.

The desert coast generally lacks vegetation except for in the irrigated floodplains and river valleys. The only exception are stands of fog-fed plants, such as the epiphyte Tillandsia, that grow on high coastal hills forming so-called lomas vegetation. Lomas vegetation may have provided pasturage for llamas.

Some settlements apparently were established to serve specific political goals. For example, sites associated with the Chimu irrigation canal between the Chicama and Moche valleys seem to be state-sponsored work camps, and Quebrada Santa Cristina in the Casma Valley is interpreted as a similar encampment for agricultural workers.

Settlements ranged from large urban centers, like the Chimu capital of Chan Chan with estimated populations of forty to sixty thousand, down to small rural hamlets. A four-tiered settlement hierarchy consisted of: 1) the primary center, Chan Chan; 2) secondary centers in many valleys that served as provincial capitals; 3) tertiary settlements often established for specific imperial purposes; and 4) quaternary settlements that were villages and hamlets. The settlement hierarchy is thought to reflect the administrative network of the Chimu state. Chan Chan was the capital and seat of the Chimu kings, while secondary centers like Farfán and Manchan were the loci of political authority in the provinces. Tertiary settlements like Cerro la Virgen, El Milagro de San Jose, and Quebrada Santa Cristina were smaller communities subject to Chimu authority, whereas most of the rural population lived in small settlements in the shadows of Chimu rule.

There is no "typical Chimu" community. Even the capital of Chan Chan lacked an overall plan. Royal palaces, noble compounds, and commoners' houses were crammed together in a motley warren of architecture. A common architectural theme for residential space consisted of rooms, storage areas, workshops, and patios surrounded and enclosed by a perimeter wall. This architectural pattern was true of royal compounds and commoners' residences. Although separated by an enormous social divide, commoners' houses abutted the exterior walls of the Chimu king's palace. There was no overall segregation based on class or occupational differences at Chan Chan. There are no public plazas or open boulevards at Chan Chan. It was a city of life behind walls.

Communities at different tiers in the settlement hierarchy had different architectural elements; in fact, architectural differences are important for defining the hierarchy. For example, the enormous royal ciudadelas were unique to Chan Chan because it was the home of the Chimu kings. In contrast, smaller compounds associated with non-royal elites are found at Chan Chan and provincial centers like Manchan and Farfán.

The composition of a household similarly varied with class. The household of the legendary founder of the Chimu dynasty, Tacaynamo [alternatively, Taycanamo], contained principal and secondary wives, their offspring, and some forty courtiers including cooks, brewers, artisans, and others whose job was to "honor and adorn his person and his house." Commoner households at the provincial center of Manchan, in contrast, probably consisted of extended families of five to eight people.

Chimu housing reflected adaptation to a natural environment without trees and a social environment based on class. The royal ciudadelas were enclosed by adobe brick walls up to nine meters tall; the largest ciudadela encloses more than 21 hectares with 900 rooms and 7,000 sq m of storage. The ciudadelas were major public works built by corvée labor. In contrast, commoners' houses made from cane could be built by a few individuals in a matter of days.

The simple difference between adobe brick and cane wattle was a material indication of class distinctions. Adobe bricks were mold-made, sun dried and set in mud mortar. Adobe walls were constructed on cobblestone foundations, and the largest walls were tapered slightly from base to top. The ciudadela walls at Chan Chan were constructed in segments, possibly by different corvée labor groups. Some bricks have makers’ marks—lines, dots, and other figures pressed into the brick before it dried—that indicate a group's, rather than an individual's, brick production. Within the ciudadelas were plazas, storerooms, complex passageways, kitchens, residential areas, and the royal burial platform.

Subsistence was based on agriculture and fishing. There is little evidence for the consumption of wild food resources other than fish and shellfish. Agriculture relied on canal irrigation supplemented in small part by other agrosystems like raised fields and sunken gardens. Principal crops were maize, various common and broad beans, and large pumpkin-like squashes; staples supplemented by important fruits like guanabana, avocado, and other native tree crops. Fishing focused on collecting shellfish like mussels, limpets, chitons, bean clams, and other varieties, and on fishing for near-shore and pelagic fishes like anchovy, sardine, mackerel, tuna, shark, and ray. It is unclear how important llama herding was to coastal subsistence. Llama meat was consumed, llama wool was spun, and llamas were often sacrificed at Chimu sites. Some scholars suggest that lomas vegetation supported large llama herds, while other archaeologists contend that coastal herds were small and access to llamas relied on highland pastoralists seasonally migrating to the coast.

The pace of agriculture on the coast is set by rainfall in the Andean cordillera. With sufficient irrigation water, two crops of maize can be raised annually. Fishing proceeds throughout the year because of the normal stability of the Humboldt Current. This pattern, however, is dramatically disrupted during ENSO events. Flooding destroys crops, erodes irrigation systems, and caps fertile fields with hard deposits of silt. Much warmer sea temperatures kill the normal species of phytoplankton and the marine food pyramid they support.

Ethnohistoric sources suggest that fishing folk and farmers may have been specialized, with specific lineages or communities focused on a given economic pursuit. Other commoner households have clear archaeological evidence for combining farming and fishing in their subsistence activities.

The Chimu farmed with a variety of hand tools. Digging sticks and footplows were used to turn the soil, and hafted "donut-stones" (argollas) were used like hammers to break the clods. Baskets, nets and pieces of cloth were used to carry earth, crops and other items. With such tools, the Chimu constructed extensive irrigation systems, including the Moche-Chicama intervalley canal. Analysis of irrigation systems suggests the Chimu had a sophisticated understanding of canal engineering and flow dynamics. Using this knowledge, the Chimu cultivated more land than is currently farmed in the area.

The Chimu were masterful metallurgists, although few examples of their finest works in silver and gold survive. The Chimu used a copper-arsenic alloy for a variety of items: fishhooks, needles, bracelets, labrets, nose ornaments, and other jewelry. The Chimu drew on a long Andean metallurgical tradition that included smelting, molding, soldering, chemical etching, and other techniques. Much of Chimu metalwork was lost to conquest, first by the Inka and later by the Spanish. An indication of the richness of Chimu metallurgy is a sixteenth century list of gold and silver gold mined by Spaniards from a Chimu tomb at Chan Chan, a treasure equivalent to 80,000 pesos of gold.

Fishing was with nets and hook and line. Nets were made from spun cotton line and knotted into different mesh sizes to capture different fish species. The Chimu used casting nets and seine nets with bottle gourd floats and stone net weights. Copper fishhooks were used with cotton hand lines. Fishing was either from shore or from small watercraft called caballitos. Caballitos are buoyant conical bundles of reeds that a lone fisherman straddles like a horse and paddles with an oar.

Cloth was woven from cotton thread and llama wool. Thread was spun using a spindle and whorl. Dyed threads were combined in multicolor plies. Using a backstrap loom, a wide variety of cloth was produced, from durable, rough plainweaves to delicately patterned gauzes. Cloth was also decorated by painting, embroidery and featherwork. Copper needles and wooden pins were used in sewing. Clothing was not tailored; instead finished panels of cloth were formed into shawls, skirts, ponchos and loincloths.

Ceramics varied from basic coil-made utilitarian wares to elegant mold-made stirrup-spout jars. Utilitarian wares ranged from cooking pots with capacities of a few liters to large open-mouthed pots for boiling seventy to eighty liters of water and maize to brew chicha. The Chimu excelled at mold-made pottery whose sculptural forms depicted humans, anthropomorphized deities, animals, domesticated plants, and even architecture. Highly burnished black-ware was mass-produced, with multiple pots made from a single mold. Pots were fired in open firings, not enclosed kilns.

There is debate about the mechanisms of exchange in Chimu economy. It has been suggested that the Chimu public economy was based on a system of state-administered redistribution. The idea is that the Chimu state was the principle economic institution, acquiring human and natural resources and finished products through a labor-based taxation system and then redistributing these revenues in pursuit of state goals. There is some archaeological support for this interpretation: the banks of storerooms at Chan Chan, the clear evidence for state-maintained workers on public constructions, and evidence for corvée labor in monumental constructions all potentially support the redistributive model. It is not clear, however, if this system affected the average citizen of the Chimu empire. Other scholars, drawing on ethnohistoric sources, have argued that occupational specialization (e.g., between farmers and fishing folk) led to exchange between producers and consumers of different items, a "natural" economy. The Andes, in general, have ambiguous evidence for pre-Hispanic markets, and no definite archaeological evidence has been found for Chimu "private" exchange systems.

In Chimu society, the organization of craft production ranged from part-time to full-time specialists, some of whom were independent and others who were attached to royal or noble households. To some extent, the level of craft specialization paralleled the administrative hierarchy with more full-time, attached craft specialists at Chan Chan than at other sites. There is little direct archaeological evidence regarding gender-based specializations or status differences associated with crafts. Weavers were probably women, metallurgists were probably men, but evidence is ambiguous or absent for other crafts.

Reconstructions of Chimu social organization are tentative and incomplete. Chimu society was almost certainly class based. North Coast myths describe the creations of nobles and commoners from separate stars or cosmic eggs. Distinctions in housing, burial techniques, and access to luxury items all suggest marked social differences. It is unclear how class and kinship overlapped. Ethnohistoric accounts suggest that class and descent were partly linked; there are references to nobles and courtiers whose descendants perpetuated those class distinctions. A handful of kin terms in the Muchik language suggest a distinction between lineal and affinal kin, and a pattern in which lineal kin terms are the same for men and women, but terms for collaterals vary based on the gender of the speaker. Based on Colonial documents, it has been hypothesized that north coast kinship was based on exogamous moieties that, in turn, were sub-divided into sections and subsections. Some scholars suggest that a kin-based nested hierarchy of social groups—the community, the moiety, moiety sections and moiety subsections—were each led by a local lord in a system of dualistic political organization. Ethnohistoric data suggest these leadership positions often passed from father to son although exceptions, including women leaders, are known. Some scholars suggest this pattern characterized the sociopolitical structure of the entire Chimu state, while others believe it reflects local level polities but not the structure of the Chimu state as a whole.

Responsibility and power varied with political position. The Chimu king was probably a divine king, largely separated from his subjects by ciudadela walls. North Coast legends repeatedly state that the death of a king was hidden so the people would consider him immortal. At the same time, kings were responsible for maintaining proper ritual. For example, one myth about a North Coast ruler describes how a destructive El Niño occurred when he attempted to desecrate a sacred idol; in punishment, nobles captured the ruler, bound him, and cast him into the ocean to placate the goddess of the sea. Rulers also had to use their wealth for the common good, most publically in feasts and dances. Leaders were expected to provide large quantities of food and maize beer (chicha) at feasts and to corvée labor groups. Such obligatory generosity was expected of leaders at various levels in the political system.

Some of the different political positions are hinted at by Muchik words: [n]çie quic[/n], great lord; [n]alæc[/n] or cacique, local leader; [n]fixllca[/n], gentleman; [n]paræng[/n], vassal or subject; yaná, servant. The Chimu king occupied the apex of political authority, attended by various courtiers who maintained his person and household. At Chan Chan, nonroyal elites presumably served in various administrative roles; for example, coordinating labor levies, public constructions, and the storage of key resources. In the provinces, the Chimu both imposed political authority and co-opted local leaders. Chimu governors and generals were posted to the provinces, and local elites were incorporated into the Chimu hierarchy. Perhaps between three and five levels of political authority separated commoner subject and Chimu king.

Presumably Chimu society, like any complex society, had various institutions and agents of social control, but the archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence of them is very poor. There are no references to a judiciary, police force, or other special group designed to keep order, but ethnohistoric sources state theft and adultery were punished by death. Presumably, lords exercised judicial authority, though they probably were catalysts and shapers of common opinion rather than upholders of legal codes. The one obvious mechanism of social control was architecture, particularly the complex patterns of the ciudadelas. The tall ciudadela walls were, in effect, a mechanism of social control, dividing social groups and restricting access between ruled and king.

As the Chimu conquered territories outside the Moche-Chicama heartland, undoubtedly conflicts occurred with polities in other valleys. At present, however, there is scant evidence for warfare at Chimu sites. Most Chimu settlements are located in open valley bottoms rather than on steep, defensible hilltops (unlike earlier north coast sites), and only a few Chimu fortresses have been documented. Fortified Chimu sites have been discovered in the middle and upper Moche Valley; they are structures of walls with concentric parapets located in defensible positions. A small Chimu fort overlooks the provincial center of Farfán and there is evidence for a battle at the site of Talambo; both are in the Jequetepeque Valley. But in general, the evidence for Chimu militarism is relatively slim. In contrast to earlier north coast societies like the Moche, there are few iconographic representations of warfare, taking of prisoners, or human sacrifice in Chimu art. The only documentary reference to Chimu warfare refers to their unsuccessful resistance against the expanding Inka Empire.

There is little direct evidence of Chimu religion, but ethnohistoric accounts suggest some of the main outlines of north coast religious beliefs, ideas that survived Inka domination and, at least for a few centuries, Spanish Catholicism.

The north coast pantheon was dominated by the Moon (Si) and the Sea (Ni). Si controlled the elements of nature, protected crops, and caused sea storms, lightning and thunder. The Moon was considered mightier than the Sun because the Moon was powerful enough to be seen during the day while the Sun was never visible at night. The House of the Moon was in Pacasmayo and devotees sacrificed their children to the Moon along with offerings of cotton cloth, chicha, and fruit.

The Sea was a generous source of food and a major figure in North Coast myths. Comparative analysis of Moche V and Chimu vessels indicates the increasing importance of the sea in iconography, including an Anthropomorphized Wave Deity. Offerings of white maize flour, red ochre, and other items were made to the Sea. Another deity, the Moon Animal, first appears in Moche pottery but is also depicted in Chimu ceramics. A crested, fanged imaginary quadruped, the Moon Animal is always associated with lunar and stellar motifs. The moon is depicted as a crescent in which the animal sits or stands as if it were a boat. Although the meanings of the symbol and deity are lost, the Moon Animal was an important North Coast symbol for at least a thousand years.

Two north coast creation myths describe the origins of humanity. One myth states that humans were born from stars, the other states humans were spawned from cosmic eggs, but both myths recount the separate origins of nobles and commoners. Nobles were the descendants of a golden star or egg, commoners from a copper star or egg. A cosmogonic justification of social differences, the Chimu believed the differences between noble and commoner were spawned in the heavens.

Presumably, Chimu religion involved full-time religious specialists—priests, diviners, and curers—but the nature of such specialists is unknown. Chimu pottery lacks the graphic detail that allows scholar to identify priests, unlike Moche fine-line drawings. Ethnohistoric sources refer only to a few local religious specialists. For example, a sorcerer, Mollep or The Lousy, contended that the people would proliferate like his body lice. Male and female sorcerers cast curses, changed themselves into animals, spoke for oracles, and went into trances.

Ethnohistoric documents concerning the seventeenth century extirpation of native religions give some idea of north coast religious practices, some of which were probably also practiced by the Chimu. Natives were repeatedly asked if they worshipped idols, if they believed in the omens represented by dreams and certain birds, and if they worshiped [n]alæc pong[/n] or "cacique stones." These stones apparently were worshipped by specific kin groups.

Offerings were important elements in Chimu ceremonies. The shell of the thorny oyster, Spondylus sp., was highly prized and a common offering. Spondylus only lives in the warm waters of the Ecuadorian coast, and the importation of Spondylus increased dramatically under the Chimu. The lustrous pink shell was used for beads and ornaments, but its most significant role was in ritual. Apparently, Spondylus was associated with the sea and rainfall. Caches of ritually buried Spondylus have been found at Chimu sites. Other offerings include llamas, coca leaves, quartz crystals, chicha, and human sacrifices.

Based on grave goods buried with the dead, the Chimu almost certainly believed in an afterlife. The Chimu kings were accompanied to their graves by sacrificed young women, perhaps wives and concubines. A Chimu architectural model depicts a ceremony within a ciudadela plaza, in which the mummies of two females are being feted in a ceremony involving drummers and other musicians, a chicha brewer, and a ritual specialist directing the event. Commoners had less elaborate burials, but the funerary treatments nonetheless indicate a belief that some form of existence continued beyond the grave. Individuals are frequently buried with food, cooking pots, weaving tools, ornaments, and small pieces of copper often placed in the dead person’s mouth.

The tradition summary is from the article Chimu by Jerry Moore, in the Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 7, Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember, eds. New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation, 2002.

Sarah Berry wrote the synopsis and the indexing notes in 2014.

We thank Peter N. Peregrine for bibliographic suggestions.

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Mackey, Carol , and Alexandra Klymyshyn (1981) "Construction and Labor Organization in the Chimu Empire." In Ñawpa Pacha 19: 99-114.

Mackey, Carol (1987) "Chimu Administration in the Provinces." In The Origins and Development of the Andean State , ed. J. Haas, S. Pozorski, and T. Pozorski. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 121-129.

Moore, Jerry (1981) "Chimu Socio-economic Organization: Preliminary Data from Manchan, Casma Valley, Peru." In Ñawpa Pacha 19: 115-128.

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