Túcume

The Pyramids of Túcume are located near the village in the administrative district Túcume Lambayeque, the " Departamento de Lambayeque " in Northern Peru, covering an area of about 220 ha They are the largest known collection of pyramids of adobe brick from pre-Columbian times. The historic site is called by the locals as Purgatory, Purgatory. It counted 26 large pyramids; total are in this area of the order of about 260 pieces. The highest measures currently about 30 m and is " Huaca 1" called ( Fig. 2). From the size even more impressive is the " Huaca Larga ". With a floor plan of 700 by 280 meters, it is one of the largest pyramids in the world. The archaeologists believe that the pyramids were built around 1100 AD for religious rituals, as the Sicán is stretched due to the by the decline of the Mochica culture around 700 AD, resulting in the Lambayeque Valley power vacuum. It is assumed that the Lambayeque, Central American natives of the Sicán culture in this area were talking an extensive administrative, military and religious center.

Geographical location

- 6.6786111111111 - 79.824722222222Koordinaten: 6 ° 40 ' 43 "S, 79 ° 49' 29" W

The site, which is also known as " El Valle de las Piramides " means ( Spanish for " valley of the pyramids " ), located in a valley not far from the Peruvian coastal region in present-day County Lambayeque little over 30 kilometers from the city of Chiclayo at La Raya Mountain near the town Túcume. The landscape of the Peruvian coast is interspersed with river oases desert landscape substantially. In Túcume there are also some dry forests, a very fragile habitat ( Fig. 4). Since this region is crossed by several rivers, it was an ideal area for the Native culture. However, it forced the residents to develop excellence in the field of agricultural irrigation in order to use the land at some distance from the rivers still agriculturally can.

Cultural classification

The pyramids discovered in Túcume is, in particular for the larger specimens so-called Huacas - Temple Mountain (Spanish: Huaca, Quechua: wak'a ). Huacas were originally built by the Mochica, stretched their peripheral sphere of influence on the coast of Peru until after Túcume. In the 8th century, the culture of the Mochica went under yet unknown reason and in the previously populated by the Mochica valleys created a power vacuum. In this phase, populated the Sicán, possibly the descendants of the Moche, the valley. Túcume is mainly the Lambayeque culture, a subset of late Sicán in the period 1000-1350 AD, assigned, who settled here after they had their previous center Poma applied in the upper Leche Valley.

Around 1350 AD, took over the Chimú for about a century until the year 1470 the area along the coast. The rapidly expanding Inca that their sphere of influence stretched under Túpac Inca from the south in the area now Peru and finally Ecuador and Bolivia occupied, ruled from 1470 to the year 1532 in Túcume. The arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in search of the gold of the South American continent ended the rule of the Incas. Túcume was finally dispatched 1532-1547.

Building name

The term pyramid is selected little apt in this context, since it is the temple mountains in the larger specimens, with Huaca ( wak'a ) meant something Verehrtes, a holy site, or the like in the original sense. In the upper town, on the platform of the great Huacas, lived in the parent company of the classes already in Lambayeque, the nobles, the priests and the ruling families. In addition, the platform of the Temple Mount was often surmounted by a further survey, on which there formerly was the sacred area ( Fig. 3).

Archaeological excavations

The German engineer, ethnographer and linguist Henry " Enrique " Brüning was accidentally ruins of Huacas and is considered the first researchers in this region. From him comes a series of early photographs of Huacas. He devoted himself to the study of the historical Muchik language spoken by the native people of this area language. His archaeological findings formed the basis for the eponymous museum Museo Nacional Enrique Bruning de Lambayeque Lambayeque. Other archaeological research on the Huacas of Túcume were of Thor Heyerdahl, who was looking for the grave of Naymlap ( = " water bird" ) to detect the origin of the sea, carried out as part of a project in the years 1988 to 1993.

Due to the late onset scientific research that began in the 90s of the 20th century, in essence, many questions are still unresolved. An example is the question of the decline Túcumes, the massive burn marks, the find of several apparently sacrificed corpses near the Huaca Larga and also the search for the grave of the legendary Naymlap, one of the most important rulers of the region, and according to legend, the founder of the Lambeyeque culture. One problem is also that, with excavations at the same time preserving the outer layers are destroyed. The generated by El Niño tropical downpours cause anyway a strong erosion at the surface of Huacas ( Fig. 5). This complicates the work of archaeologists and restricts their progress an addition.

Public and Museum

The " valley of the pyramids " can be visited, it is both a visitor center as well as a museum, the Museo de Sitio Túcume, for further information.