Today we visited Chan Chan, the remains of a large city of the Chimu people.
In the 15th century Chan Chan was a 20 square kilometer mudbrick city. Now it looks like small bumps in the desert.
The archaeologists are working on excavating these piles of dirt and reconstructing one of the main palaces.
The palace contains many rooms. These little undecorated ones were likely used for storage.
The reconstruction and preservation efforts are still underway.
Many of the rooms were decorated with little animals. This one likely represents a sea lion.
This wall was covered in fish and pelicans.
Many walls were covered with this deep diamond pattern.
This was another pattern found on some walls.
Most of these walls are restored, and sealed on top with a hard waterproof covering as well as having tarps added overtop. It was difficult to tell which parts were original and which were recreated.
For the most part they probably know the basic floorplan, and a few of the symbols that make the pattern, but have filled in the gaps in the reconstruction.
Many of the symbols are very blocky, like a really low resolution graphic.
But others have smooth edges.
Some you can’t tell what animal they represent, if they represent an animal at all.
The dots on the bottom of this one seemed oddly irregular in size.
Most of the walls are very low because there was not much left after over 500 years of desert wind.
This is a reservoir they formed inside.
The water would not have been suitable for drinking, so they think they used it for ceremonial purposes.
This is the entrance to the large tomb. Most of the contents were looted by grave robbers.
