Recentarcheological findings show that the coast of the La Libertarian department was home to ancient civilizations that in many respects were just an important as the Incas, Mayas or Aztecs. Most of their legacy is in the form of remarkable temples located only a few minutes from Trujillo, a city in northern Peru.
This city, the department’s capital, is 45 minutes away from Lima by plane (560 km) and lies 209 km from Chiclayo, following the northern Pan-American highway. Average summer temperature is 24º C and the weather is mild and sunny the rest of the year.The Chan-Chan citadel. A total population of 26.400 residents has been estimated of which some 10.500 were handicrafts makers of both sexes. A vast network of irrigated farms and sunken field, as well as llama packs, ensured the uninterrupted supply of foodstuffs and raw materials. In Chan-Chan, like in the Egyptian necropolis, ample quarter for artisans and bureaucrats were located near the pyramids and funerary palaces to ensure the continuity of worship to the god-monarchs during hundreds and even thousands of years after their death.Pakatnamu. Sitting on a high plateau straddling the valley and the sea, Pakatnamu ranks among the most beautiful and largest of all Mochica, Lambayeque or Chimu sites.Protected by two large walls and deep precipices, Pakatnamu spreads over 1,5 square kilometers. It reached its present configuration during the Lambayeque period, and although the purpose served by its architectural layout is not perfectly clear to modern eyes, plentiful evidence of complex rites, including human sacrifices, suggests researchers this was a large ceremonial center, in some way similar to the Pachacamac oracle in Peru’s central Coast.
Temple or huaca de los Reyes
Upstream of the Moche river rises several temples that pre-dates Chan-Chan by more than 2.000 years. Huaca de los Reyes, a 200 Ha compound under the eight earth mound at the Caballo Muerto site, was built during the second millennium BC and required the labor .Probably one of the political and religious centers of the Cupisnique civilization, Huaca de los Reyes is well-known for its sculpted, carved pottery often mistaken for Chavin ceramic. Judging from its Carbon-14 dating, the Cupisnique style may have spread beyond the valley only after Huaca de los Reyes was abandoned. In its final form, this group of three large platforms (each 160 by 120 meters at the basis and six meters high) located around a rectangular square is precisely aligned along the cardinal points. On its summit six temples of stone and mud mortar were built. A fine stucco plaster covers the walls, square-shaped 1, 50 meters wide columns and the rooftops of the arches opening to U-shaped atrium. On the façade decorated with sculptured clay friezes, some well-preserved images clearly represent the heads of 12 mythical ancestors with mouths full of sharp jaguar fangs. Each of the complex head sculptures stands 2 meters tall is 1, 80 meters deep.
