The Earthen Monuments of Pre-Columbian America

Their gigantic dimensions are what impress us most about the earthen monuments of South America. The examples include the Huaca del Sol (“Pyramid of the Sun”) built by the Moche culture in northern Peru (2nd–9th century AD) and nearby Chan Chan, the largest city in pre-Columbian Peru, the building of which began around 1300 AD. Once the capital of the Chimú Empire, Chan Chan is a fascinating place, remarkable for its superb urban planning and ornate buildings, all built with earthen materials like the unfired mud bricks called adobe. 

The pyramids of the Moche Valley are still a subject of speculation as to their purpose. Like the other stepped pyramids of ancient Peru, they presumably had several functions, and we know that cultic rituals and ceremonies were performed on their platforms. Unlike the Egyptian pyramids, however, they did not serve as mausoleums, but were rather rulers’ palaces, administrative centers, or military guard posts.

The enormous size of the Huaca del Sol and the necropolis immediately in front of it suggest that it once had cultic significance. The Huaca del Sol, which some have conjectured was dedicated to the rainbow, was  certainly one of the most important sanctuaries of Peru’s Moche culture. With an unbelievable floor space of 340 x 220 m, it would have had room for 35 Parthenons! Its more than 140 million adobe bricks stacked up in seven tiers to an overall height of 41 meters make this UNESCO-protected monument one of the largest structures of Antiquity.