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Flourishing from AD 800 to 1375,Sicán was a society of farmers,ceramic artisans, fishermen, andmetalworkers. It built adobe - brickplatform mounds for ceremonialand funerary purposes. The region,a broad river valley extendingsome 25 miles between the PacificOcean and the Andean foothills, iscalled Batán Grande. In 1978,surveying the area to prepare forfieldwork archaeologist IzumiShimada found that looters haddug thousands of holes to reachtombs that contained goldornaments and other valuables.

Better Than Gold:A Hidden Culture Comes to LightIzumi Shimada

Gold and Silver Insitu

SicánLambayeque, Peru

Detail of Mural from Excavation

SicánLambayeque, Peru

Burial I-91 of Huaca Loro

Sicán CultureLambayeque, Peru

The culture of Sicán rose about900 CE, several centuries after thewaning of the Moche culture. Liketheir Moche precursors, the peopleof Sicán built monumental templesand palaces where rituals andfunerals demanded splendidparaphernalia. They also built ahighly refined irrigation systemthat opened the desert to richlyproductive agriculture. Far-flungtrade brought in feathers from theAmazonian tropical rainforest tothe east and lapis lazuli from whatis now Chile, far to the south. TheLords of Sicán were buried in deeptombs, lying at the bottom ofvertical shafts. In 1991 IzumiShimada excavated one of therichest tombs ever found in thewestern hemisphere. It containedmore than a ton of precious metalshaped as jewelry and ritualartifacts that demonstrate thehighly perfected techniquesachieved by Sicán gold andsilversmiths.

ART AND ARTIFACTS

The Culture of Sicán: Treasure Tomb fromPeru’s Desert Coast

Several centuries after the waning of theMoche culture, about AD 900, anothervariation of the great pre-Hispanic civilizationof Peruvian North Coast developed; the cultureof Sicán. Like their Moche precursors, thepeople of Sicán built monumental temples andpalaces where rituals and funerals demandedsplendid paraphernalia. The people of Sicánbuilt highly refined irrigation opening thedesert to richly productive agriculture. A far-flung trade system brought in feathers fromthe Amazonian tropical rainforest to the eastand lapis lazuli from Chile, far to the south.

Sicán Lord Ceremonial Headdress

Sicán cultureLambayeque, Peru

This gold mask assemblage was excavated inits original, elaborate configuration from Tomb1 at Huaca Loro, in the site of Batan Grande.With its dangles, earspools, and tall headdressrepresenting feathers in gold, this burial maskrivals the Moche metalwork found at Sipán.

Mural DetailNational Museum of Sicán

Sicán Lord of Huaca Loro

130 cm x 70 cmoil and acrylic on paper

Painting by Christiane Clados

The Sicán Lord of Huaca Loro

The lord wears the costume of the night god,which includes a tall headdress of gold, silver,and brightly colored feathers of parrots,macaws, and herons. The dangling gold discsset in hollow spaces on the silver plate of theheaddress represent stars. They sparkle in thesunlight, chiming and ringing with the lord’severy move.

The lord wears a necklace of lapis lazuli over afinely woven tunic with conical pendants ofgold attached to the hem. Gold also adornsthe bench on which he sits, with thousands ofgold plaques sewn onto the textile that coversit. A squirrel monkey eating an avocado sits athis feet. The legs of the lord are painted withstar symbols, and in his right hand, he holds abeaker of gold and silver filled with corn beer.Corn beer or chicha was frequently offered tothe gods to ensure the earth’s fertility.

ACTIVITIES

Art • Technology • Language ArtsThis large gold mask was made by a mastermetalworker of the Sicán culture, whichflourished on the north coast of Peru.Contemporary archaeologists have foundmasks like this one buried in the tombs ofimportant Sicán individuals. These tombs arefamous for the amount of metals theycontained, and this suggests that a very highlyorganized system of metal production mustalso have existed.

In addition to the masks, the tombs includedbeakers, jewelry, and ceremonial knives, manyof them made of gold. In the modern world,gold is generally equated with material wealthor money. To the pre-Columbian peoples ofPeru, gold had other additional meanings. Suchlavish use of gold not only showed the politicalstatus of the buried individual, but also hisconnection to the sun.

The Sicán culture flourished in the BatánGrande region of northern Peru between AD700 and 1300. The Sicán mask depicts the faceof the most important human image in Sicánart, a mythic or religious figure called the SicánLord. This mask is characteristically horizontal,with comma-shaped eyes, a prominent nose,and a rectangular flange at each side, whichtypically supported circular ear ornaments thatwere made separately and attached. The eyesof the mask are overlaid with copper, whichhas oxidized to a deep green, and traces of redon the forehead and cheeks show that it, likeother masks, was painted with cinnabar.

Ceremonial MaskBatán Grande Sicán

Looking closely at the mask, describe what yousee. Gold was called the "sweat of the sun" bythe ancient peoples in Peru. What do you thinkthis phrase means? Explain your answer.

If you were a Sicán lord, a priest or ruler withgreat authority, how would being identifiedwith the sun symbolize your power? Byassociating himself with the power of the sun,the Sicán lord symbolically showed that hepossessed many powers.

Sicán Elite Ceremonial Headdress

Sicán cultureLambayeque, Peru

What adjectives would you use to describe thisface? Think about when and where you wouldwear a mask. What happens when you wear amask? Masking is an age-old traditionpracticed by many cultures. Why would a goldmask have been an important part of a ruler'sequipment?

TEXTBOOKS

Unwrapping Ancient Mysteries Invitations to Literacy Level 6 Theme 3 Houghton Mifflin 2001Discover Our Heritage The Ancient Americas Level 7 Chapter 6 Houghton Mifflin 2001

RESOURCES

Townsend, Richard F. The Ancient Americas:Art From Sacred Landscapes. Chicago, Illinois:The Art Institute of Chicago. 1992.

Townsend, Richard F. The Arts of the AncientAmericas. Chicago, Illinois: The Art Institute ofChicago. 1992.

Shimada, Izumi. Pampa Grande and theMochica Culture. Austin, Texas: University ofTexas Press. 1994.

Stone-Miller, Rebecca. Art of the Andes fromChavin to Inca. New York, New York: Thamesand Hudson. 2002.

INTERNET LINKS

Dallas Museum of Art http://www.dm-art.org/Metropolitan Museum of Art http://www.metmuseum.org/

Izumi Shimada-Archaeologist

Batán Grande, Peru

AlpacasPeru

VicunasPeru

GLOSSARY

ArchaeologistA person who studies the lives and culturesof ancient peoples through the excavationand interpretation of material evidence ofpast human activity.Context-In 1978, surveying the area toprepare for fieldwork archaeologist IzumiShimada found that looters had dugthousands of holes to reach tombs thatcontained gold ornaments and othervaluables.

Izuma Shimada is director of the SicanArchaeological Project and professor at theSouthern Illinois University at Carbondale.His spectacular finds of the Sicán elitetombs at Batán Grande ArchaeologicalReserve in northern Peru recently attractedpublic attention. He has put the evaluationof these finds on a broad basis using allavailable methods to investigate them. Weare studying ceramic material from BatánGrande and recently also from the newlyexcavated 1000-years old workshop atHuaca Sialupe. Professor Shimada isgreatly interested in experimentalarchaeology.

AlpacasA domesticated South American mammal(Lama pacos), related to the llama andhaving fine, long wool. The silky wool ofthis mammal. Cloth made from alpaca.Context-Alpacas are thought to have beendomesticated from vicuna over 5,000 yearsago.

VicunasA llama like ruminant mammal (Vicugnavicugna) of the central Andes, having finesilky fleece. The fleece of this mammal.Fabric made from the fleece of thismammal.Context- Vicunas are the ancestors of thealpaca.

Llama

Peru

Adobe BricksSicán

Batán Grande, Peru

Mural FriezeHuaca de la Luna, Peru

LlamaA domesticated South American ruminantmammal (Lama glama) related to thecamel, raised for its soft, fleecy wool andused as a beast of burden. Any of variousother mammals of the genus Lama, suchas the alpaca and guanaca. Of the fourteenanimals domesticated by man throughoutthe world, the llama alone among them isnative to the Americas. This dependablebeast of burden, docile servant of man,and amiable personal companion remainsas indispensable to today's Andean Indiansas a horse is to a cowboy, a camel to aBedouin, or a sled dog to an Eskimo.Context- In their culture Llamas areconsidered to be a gift from the gods.

Adobe BricksA sun-dried, unburned brick of clay andstraw. The clay or soil from which this brickis made. A structure built with this type ofbrick.Context-The settlements were built ofadobe bricks with solid roofs and carefullyplastered floors.

FriezeA decorative horizontal band, as along theupper part of a wall in a room.Context-This is a frieze from Huaca de laLuna.