De palacios a mausoleos: Nuevas evidencias e interpretaciones sobre los accesos de los conjuntos amurallados de Chan Chan, Perú

Gayoso Rullier H.L.; Gamarra Carranza N.V. · Latin American Antiquity (2023) · DOI: 10.1017/laq.2022.6

Resumen

Chan Chan was the capital city of the Kingdom of Chimo (AD 900-1470) on the north coast of Peru. In this article, we describe and analyze the latest archaeological discoveries from excavations at Gran Chimú, the largest of Chan Chan's walled compounds. Based on the analysis of the compound's entrance and the presence of niches containing wooden statues in Gran Chimú, as well as in other architectural compounds at Chan Chan, we demonstrate that these niches and statues were a late architectural addition. We suggest that these statues are characters related to funeral rites and the ancestor cult represented by the king's mummy. Furthermore, we support the idea of walled compounds as palaces that become royal mausoleums when Chimú kings died. Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology.