Learn about the Sican - a pre-Inca Civilisation
Not to be confused with Sipan, the Sican culture (A.D. 750 to 1375) bridged the Moche and Chimu cultures in what today is the Department of Lambayeque. In fact, the Sican civilisation is also known as the Lambayeque.
The Sican continued many Moche practices, including ceramics, metallurgy, and the construction of pyramid-shaped funerary platforms.
Set of gold ornaments at Sican National Museum.
Sican Craftmanship:
Sican pottery makers used the lost wax technique to create many pieces from a single mould. They extended this practice to the production of gold ornaments, which became a hallmark of Sican culture.
The Sican also developed the idea of strengthening and improving metals with alloys, beginning with arsenic and copper … and continuing with gold and silver alloys.
Using adobe ovens fired with hard, hot-burning algarrobo (carob) wood, and cane blowpipes, they could attain temperatures as high as 1,000˚C (1,832˚F) and produce the most sophisticated metal objects yet made.
Sican Burial Practices:
Dozens of pyramidal burial mounds (huacas) covered the Sican landscape. Unlike the Moche, who buried their dead lying down, the Sican buried them sitting upright, with their legs crossed.
Nobles were entombed with oversized gloves, precious ritual objects, and gold face masks with slanting ojos alados (winged eyes), a reference to their mythological first king, Naylamp, who was said to have grown wings and flown away after his death.
Huacas of Batan Grande in Pomac Sanctuary.
The main Sican sites are:
Batan Grande: a complex of 30 huacas which lie mostly within Pomac Historical Sanctuary, and where the tomb of The Lord of Sican was found in 1991.
Tucume, a 220-hectare archaeological site, 24 km (15 miles) north of Lambayeque, boasting 26 huacas.
Chotuna-Chornancap: a 20-hectare site, 12 km (7.5 miles) to the north-west of Chiclayo, which has recently revealed the tomb of a young priestess, along with evidence of mass human sacrifice.
Sican National Museum in Ferrañefe.
Moreover, in Ferrañefe, 11 miles (18 km) north of Chiclayo, the modern Sican Museum has a superb display of artefacts found in two tombs excavated in Batan Grande, as well as stunning reproductions of the burials.
How to visit the vestiges of Sican Culture:
A visit to Tucume Pyramids is included in all the below itineraries:
Batan Grande and Chotuna-Cornancap are less commonly visited, but if you wish to explore here and/or the Sican Museum in Ferrañefe, just get in touch.