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Purgatorio (purgatory) is the name by which
local people refer to the dozens of prehispanic pyramids,
enclosures and mounds found on the plain around La Raya Mountain,
south of the La Leche River. This is the site of Tucume, covering
an area of over 540 acres and encompassing 26 major pyramids
and platforms.
This site was a major regional center, maybe even the capital
of the successive occupations of the area by the Lambayeque/Sican
(1000/1100-1350 AD) CHECK CHECK, Chimú (1350-1450 AD)
and Inca (1450-1532 AD). Local shaman healers (“curanderos”)
invoke the power of Tucume and La Raya Mountain in their rituals,
and local people fear these sites. Hardly anyone other than
The plains of Tucume are part of the Lambayeque Valley, the largest
valley of the North Coast of Peru. The Lambayeque Valley boats scores
natural and man-made waterways. lt is also a region of numerous
pyramids.
Tucume lies on what was once the southern margin of the valley,
but thanks to the Taymi irrigation canal (over 43 miles long), which
brings water northward from the Chancay river, it is surrounded
by fertile agricultural land. lt seems very likely that the construction
of the Taymi canal coincided with the foundation of Tucume, an important
center of the region throughout its 400-year history. Modern Tucume,
which lies very close to the site and boasts its own prehispanic
village pyramid, Huaca del Pueblo, is located 17 miles north of
the city of Chiclayo.
The largest and most impressive pyramids are found in the monumental
sector of the archaeological site, to the north and northeast of
La Raya Mountain (“Mountain of the Ray”). Investigations
carried out in conjunction with Thor Heyerdahl, the famous Norwegian
seafarer and explorer, have concentrated on three major structures:
Huaca Larga, Huaca 1 and The
U-shaped "Temple of the Sacred Stone". Excavations
in non-monumental areas have yielded many details about the functioning
of the site -some prefer the term city- and about the lives of its
inhabitants.
The
beginnings of Tucume are to be found in a legend recorded by Father
Cabello de Balboa (1586 AD). Cala, a grandson of the mythical Naymlap,
founder of the Lambayeque royal dynasty, is said to have gone to
Tucume to "start new fan-tilies and settlements, bringing many
people him with". The founding of the settlement seems to have
taken place around 1000-1100 AD, when the old regional center at
Batán Grande, to the south of the Chancay river, was burnt
and abandoned. Tucume quickly rose to a preeminent position within
the valley.
Evidence of the Chimú conquest, around 1350
AD, as well as the later Inca occupation of the region, by 1470
AD, has been found in ceramics, burials and dedicatory offerings.
In Huaca Larga, for example, archaeologists discovered the lavish
burial of a prominent Inca general, possibly the Inca governor of
Tucume. Some archaeologists believe that the fire that razed the
central part of Huaca Larga may coincide with the beginnings of
the colonial period and of the abandonment of the site.
HUACA 1
Huaca 1 (Pyramid 1) rises 98-feet high behind the new site museum,
west of Huaca Las Estacas (Pyramid of the Stakes). lt is a stepped
pyramid with a long, high and narrow access ramp that makes several
right-angle turns up the body of the pyramid. Two plazas, one
to the north and a huge, 689 by 259-feet plaza, surrounded by
high walls to the south, together with several ample annexes,
also correspond to this structure. One of these annexes, referred
to as "The Bell-Shaped Building" stands out as a unique
Andean example of outcurving, i.e. overhanging walls, somewhat
reminiscent of Japanese architecture. On top of Huaca 1 there
are a series of rooms situated at different levels with access
ramps and stairways. These rooms probably were living quarters
of the Lambayeque elite. During the Chimú period (1350-1470
AD) Huaca 1 continued in use and bird friezes were added as a
form of architectural ornamentation.
HUACA LARGA
Huaca Larga, or the Long Pyramid, is the longest adobe structure
known to date. lt measures around 2,300-feet in length, from the
foot of La Raya Mountain to the short, straight access ramp on
the north end. Its beginnings as a freestanding platform of the
Lambayeque, or Sican, culture (1000/1100-1350 AD), which is referred
to as the “green phase”, are obscured by substantial
remodeling that took place in the subsequent “tricolor phase”.
All buildings of this period, which marks the Chimú domination
of the area, were painted in red, white and black. The murals depicting
flying birds in the "Temple of the Mythical Bird" stand
out as fine examples of Chimú painting. Apparently, the Chimú
tried to convert Huaca Larga into something resembling a Chan Chan
compound. Long corridors and dividing walls partition the complex,
and researchers have identified a northern, possibly public, ceremonial
area and a southern area devoted to cooking and manufacturing.
The Inca presence at Huaca Larga (1470-1532 AD) is referred to as
the “stone phase” due to their preference for stone
as construction material. Weaving of delicate textiles, an activity
the Inca often entrusted to consecrated women, was practiced at
Huaca Larga during Inca times. This tradition may well go back to
Chimú or even pre-Chimú times. Burials of 19 high-status,
female Inca weavers included a collection of elaborate objects.
This burial site, which was found under one of the Inca-built rooms,
yielded high-quality, wooden implements for spinning and weaving
and inlaid earspools. In a different room atop Huaca Larga, researchers
discovered three male burials, one of them of a mature, robust man
with insignia, suggesting he may have been the Inca governor of
Tucume.
Shortly after these burials took place, all standing structures
on Huaca Larga were razed and huge tires lit on top. Oral history
recalls that enormous fires were lit by the Spanish colonists to
convince the local population that Tucume was indeed the gate to
purgatory.
THE TEMPLE OF THE SACRED STONE
The "Temple of the Sacred Stone" is a small, unpretentious,
rectangular U-shaped structure to the east of Huaca Larga. lt is
considered a major temple that travelers had to pass by before entering
the site. The walled roadway system of this section of the Lambayeque
valley leads straight to this temple and then on to Huaca Larga.
The special, revered object of this temple appears to have been
a large, upright boulder in the middle of the one-room building,
but whom or what it represented remains unknown. Furthermore, archaeologists
found an enormous number of offerings in and around the temple.
These offerings included valuable Spondylus shells (a seashell)
brought from the coast of Guayaquil, slaughtered lamas and intriguing
sheet-metal miniatures representing a wide range of themes and objects
(flora, fauna, ornaments, musical instruments, tools, etc.). The
most delicate of Inca offerings, figurines made of solid silver
or carved Spondylus and adorned with elaborate textiles, silver
tupu-needles and miniature feather headdresses, were found deposited
in ritual fashion by the doorway of the temple. Researchers have
found similar offerings, sometimes together with human sacrifices,
at other major Inca shrines. For example, just a few years back
a researcher exploring the top of the snow-capped Ampato Mountain
in the southern Peruvian department of Arequipa found the intact
mummy of an Inca girl, whom he nicknamed "Juanita".
HUACA BALSAS
Although Huaca Balsas has suffered heavily from damage inflicted
by looting, its beautiful friezes, of a quality previously unknown
in the Lambayeque region, are one of Tucumes most interesting features.
These include the frieze known as “the Mound of the Rafts",
which is located on the southwestern margin of the site in the only
group of large pyramids outside the monumental sector (see above).
While the "Frieze of the Rafts" depicts a mythical scene
in which a bird-man and a mythical bird lead a raft, following a
similar boat with a related crew, the "Frieze of the Rite"
depicts a figure who may be a priest inside a roofed structure and
holding a lama in one hand and a staff in the other. While their
precise meaning remains unclear, archeologist Alfredo Narváez
sees a revival of the earlier Moche tradition of fine-line drawing,
as seen in their exquisite ceramics, transposed to a different medium.
A narrative character has been attributed to the Moche ceramic drawings.
Thus, the friezes of Huaca Balsas may depict scenes that form part
of one or more Lambayeque myths.
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Constructed entirely of mudbrick in the lower La Leche Valley, the
imposing site of Túcume on Peru's arid North Coast was in use for
nearly a millennium, having been built by the Lambayeque at the
beginning of the tenth century, conquered by the Chimú in 1375,
and subsumed into the Inca Empire in 1470, under which it flourished
until the arrival of the Spanish in 1532. The site, which is spread
over more than 220 hectares, boasts 26 enormous adobe pyramids,
most of which were constructed in stages throughout the site's occupation.
Eroded by centuries of El Niño southern oscillation events, Túcume's
monuments are today a mere shadow of their creators' architectural
vision, yet the archaeological remains they contain make the site
one of the most important in northern Peru. The fragility of the
construction, aggressive climate, and lack of economic resources,
however, have resulted in a pattern of progressive deterioration
of the site. The most significant losses, from heavy rains and strong
winds, have been reduced building volume and damaged painted murals.
The Túcume area has been slated for tourism development in Peru,
however, concerns have been raised over the development of the site
without proper attention to conservation. The site's listing in
2004 attracted substantial private-sector support for the site's
preservation, but a long-term plan for the conservation of its fragile
and eroding remains has yet to be developed
If you are interested to visit the north of Peru including the most
important archaeological sites and Museums visit out tour programs
page where you will also find programs to Kuelap fortress and Chachapoyas
area.
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