moche

The cultural antecedents of the Chimu people of Chan Chan were the Moche people who prospered in Peru from AD 100-AD 800.  Their name comes from the Moche River which flows into the Pacific Ocean just south of Trujillo.  The Huaca del Sol (Temple of the Sun), a pyramidal structure made of adobe, was once the biggest pre-Columbian structure in the country.  When Spanish Conquistadors came and robbed its graves for gold and other treasures, much of it was destroyed.  The Huaca de la Luna (Temple of the Moon) nearby, is largely intact.  It is full of colorful murals with complex, symbolic icons-all with their original paint.  Around 20,000 people once lived in the valley between the two temples.  Researchers have been excavating this site since the early 1990s.