CHAN CHAN

Death mask of gold and silver alloy with copper eyes and ears, Chim culture, c. great ruined and abandoned pre-Inca city on the present-day northern Peruvian coast, the capital of the Chim kingdom (c. AD 12001400). The site is about 300 miles (480 km) north of Lima in the Moche Valley, between the Pacific and the city of Trujillo. The ruins, which cover nearly 14 square miles (36 square km), are in good condition because the area is rainless. The city was watered by irrigation ditches, now neglected. The building material used was adobe brick, and the buildings were finished with mud frequently adorned with relief arabesques in repetitive textile patterns. The centre of the city consists of 10 walled citadels, or quadrangles, each containing pyramidal temples, cemeteries, gardens, reservoirs, and symmetrically arranged rooms. These quadrangles presumably were the living quarters, burial places, and warehouses of the aristocracy. The bulk of the city's population lived outside of the quadrangles in modest quarters of much more flimsy construction. The Chim kingdom was the chief state in Peru before the establishment of the Inca empire; it extended approximately from Piura in the north to Paramonga in the south. Its cultural antecedents were the Moche, or Mochica, formerly called the Proto-Chim. The Chim economy was basically agricultural, aided by irrigation works. Chim craftsmen produced fine textiles and gold, silver, and copper objects; a polished blade pottery was mold-made and produced according to standardized designs. The Chim spoke Yunca (Yunga, or Mochica), a now-extinct language, but had no writing. Between 1465 and 1470 the Chim came under Inca rule, apparently persuaded that Inca arms were invincible. The Chim seem to have elaborated a system of social-class stratification. Chim historical and mythological traditions were recorded by Spanish writers after the conquest (c. 1532).