Batán Grande — Sicán (Huaca Las Ventanas) Pyramid
Batán Grande · Huaca Las Ventanas · Sicán capital · Huaca Loro
Middle Sicán to Late Sicán (Lambayeque)·Sicán / Lambayeque (Moche descendant)·🇵🇪 Lambayeque, Batán Grande Reserve, La Leche Valley, Peru
About
About Batán Grande — Sicán (Huaca Las Ventanas) Pyramid
Capital of the Sicán (Lambayeque) culture (800–1375 CE) in La Leche forest — adobe pyramid necropolis of 20 pyramids (Huaca Las Ventanas 10 m excavated by Shimada with West Tomb gold tumi and 1.2 kg gold mask; Huaca Loro East-West 20 m with East Tomb 'Lord of Sicán' gold funerary mask ~2 kg, and 22 sacrificed women). Dry forest industrial landscape with copper-arsenic bronze smelting. Abandoned 1375 after Chimú conquest. UNESCO tentative Bosques de Pómac. Excavated by Izumi Shimada 1978–.
Why it mattersRichest gold tombs in Andes after Señor de Sipán; documents Sicán bronze metallurgy; forest management and El Niño abandonment.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Location of still unlooted royal tombs
- 02Cause of early 1100 collapse — drought or war
Theories
- 01Moche to Sicán cultural continuity vs Chimú replacement
- 02Scarcity-driven metallurgy in desert forest
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 800–1375 CE (Middle Sicán 900–1100 peak, Late Sicán to 1375)
- Period
- Middle Sicán to Late Sicán (Lambayeque)
- Culture
- Sicán / Lambayeque (Moche descendant)
- Builders
- Sicán lords (Lord of Sicán)
- Purpose
- Pyramidal tomb-mounds with elite gold tombs
- Excavation
- Excavated
c. 800–1375 CE (Middle Sicán 900–1100 peak, Late Sicán to 1375)
Initial construction
c. 1479 CE
Rediscovery
On the ground
Structures & features
6.4700° S · 79.7960° W · 80 m · 3 mapped features
Huaca Las Ventanas West Tomb
huacaGold mask west tomb beneath truncated pyramid
6.4699° S · 79.7961° WHuaca Loro East Tomb
huaca20 m pyramid with Lord of Sicán tomb
6.4702° S · 79.7958° WSmelting workshop area
workshopCopper-arsenic furnace field south
6.4705° S · 79.7963° W