Neal Bierling, Archaeological Adventures: Getting a High in Peru: Museums and Archaeological Sites

Getting a High in Peru: Museums and Archaeological Sites

The Bruning Museum in Lambayeque, Peru north of Chiclayp

You will learn more about this gold object below

How does one begin to study Peru’s history prior to the Spanish conquest without taking a course at a local university? I chose to visit Arequipa’s archaeological museums and to meet with archaeologists. When I encountered the artifacts that predated the Incas, I was wowed. I simply had no idea that the pre-Incan peoples inhabiting Peru were so adept at ceramics, metallurgy, textiles, and other crafts even though for a time I did teach the Incas as a school teacher. These skills were already well developed more than 1500 years before the Incas dominated Peru.

When one learns about the Spanish Conquest in Peru, we read and might see examples of the beautiful gold and silver artifacts the Spanish took before they got melted down into coins or bullion. We’ve heard about or seen National Geographic pictures of Machu Pichu (“The Genius of the Inca” 2011), or, we may have seen National Geographic articles on the mummies (“Peru’s Ice Maidens”1996, 1999), but I did not register that these mummies date to the Incas before the Spanish Conquest and could be viewed here in Arequipa. Several Geographic articles on the pre-Incan societies here in Peru have now been published since 2000 and should wow us with the sophisticated societies in Peru before the Incas.

We took a number of these articles with us to Peru determined to visit the pre-Incan archaeological sites, and this we began to do in October2013. We were not disappointed. Fortunately, both here in Arequipa and in northern Peru, many museums allow you to take pictures, and since I am a visual learner (and photographer), I need the pictures to register what I see at the archaeological sites. So, I begin this series on the pre-Inca peoples who lived in the region of Lambayeque and Chiclayo, north of Trujillo in northern Peru. I began my research at Museo Bruning in Lambayeque, and as it turned out, the Bruning Museum was an excellent choice. The Incas took control in 1470 ruling until the Spanish displaced them in 1533. The Bruning Museum takes you back to the Chimu/Lambayeque, who ruled from AD 900 to 1470, to the Cajamarca/Huari (Wari) who ruled from AD 700-900, to the Moche who ruled from AD 100-700, another group who ruled here from 1800 BC to AD 100, and still another group that lived here as far back as 5000 BC.

What’s sweet about the Bruning is that they have numerous murals, drawings, and dioramas explaining the culture and the artifacts recovered. They also show you how the cultures made the beautiful ceramics and metal artifacts on display. There are five major pre-Incan archaeological sites in this area, two of them are Moche sites, dating from AD 100 to 700, and the other three are principally Chimu dating from AD 900 to 1470 when the Incas took charge. It was the Moche who first constructed the massive mudbrick pyramids and platforms and had evidently a highly organized religion. These massive structures were another surprise for me. The Moche were highly skilled ceramicists, metallurgists, and experts with textiles. The Sican likely were descendants of the Moche and roughly contemporary to the Chimu. Another Moche site, El Brujo, south of Chiclayo that survived into Chimu times will be treated separately. The now famous Moche site, Sipan, with its Royal Tombs and the Lord of Sipan will also be treated separately.

One of the numerous mudbrick pyramid temple/burial platforms

Some of the ceramics and a model of a mudbrick temple platform in back

The mountain at Tecume with the pyramids built up against it, around it, and in the area

A model showing how the mudbrick pyramids were constructed

The Chimu, contemporaries of the Sican, appear to be more functional with their crafts and less artistic than the Moche. Their typical blackware ceramics can be seen in several museums, but while ceramic artistry may have declined, their skill in metallurgy improved. The largest of Chimu sites, Chan Chan, covers 20 sq. km, and once housed 60,000 people with room to spare. It was the largest adobe (mudbrick) city in the world, but El Ninos in the past and recent past have devastated the site. Much of this ancient site can still be viewed, and even though the Spanish took away much of the gold and silver, with looters taking still more, recent archaeological excavations have found and recovered untouched tombs. This site can be experienced in Museo Bruning before going out to the nearby site.

This is an example of homes at Chan Chan, home to 60,000 at its peak

An example of a Chimu artist making a mural

A major highlight at the Bruning is the extensive display of a woman named “The Lambayeque Priestess of Chornancap.” She was buried sometime in the 12^th-13^th c. AD with her companions, the symbols of her high office, and a llama. The Chornancap Complex is located southwest of Lambayeque, west of Chiclayo near the village and beach of San Jose.