Chimú

Were the residents of Chimor with its capital at the city of Chan Chan, a large adobe city, in the Moche valley of Trujillo, Peru. The Inca ruler Tupac Inca Yupanqui led a campaign which conquered the Chimú around 1470 A.D., just fifty years before the arrival of the Spanish in the region. Spanish chroniclers were able to record accounts of Chimú culture from individuals who had lived before the Inca conquest. Archaeological evidence suggest that Chimor grew out of the remnants of Moche culture; early Chimú pottery had some resemblance to Moche pottery. Their ceramics are all black and their metalwork is very detailed and intricate.

The Chimú resided in the north coast of Peru: "It consists of a narrow strip of desert, 20 to 100 miles wide, between the Pacific and the western slopes of the Andes, crossed here and there by short rivers which start in the rainier mountains and provide a series of green and fertile oases." (30) The valley plains are very flat and well suited to irrigation, which is probably as old as agriculture here. Fishing was also very important and was almost considered as important as agriculture.

The Chimú were also known for worshiping the moon, unlike the Inca who worshiped the sun. The Chimu viewed the sun as a destroyer. This is likely due to the harshness of the sun in the desert environment they lived in. Offerings played an important role in religious rites, and one common object for offerings as well as an item used by artisans was the shell of the Spondylus shellfish, which lives only in the warm coastal waters off Ecuador and is associated with the sea, rainfall, and fertility. Spondylus were also highly valued and traded by the Chimú.

The Chimú are best known for their distinctive monochromatic pottery and fine metal working of copper, gold, silver, bronze, and tumbago (copper and gold). The pottery is often in the shape of a creature, or has a human figure sitting or standing on a cuboid bottle. The shiny black finish of most Chimú pottery is not achieved by using glazes, but instead is achieved by firing the pottery at high temperatures in a closed kiln which prevents oxygen from reacting with the clay.

Chimú vessel showing a sexual act (Museum of the Americas, Madrid, Spain).

There are also several examples of Chimú pottery depicting homosexual acts (This is mentioned in William S. Burroughs' novel Queer).