The Chimú Empire thrived in present-day northern Peru
between approximately 900 CE and 1500 CE.
Although lesser known today than the Incas,
who eventually conquered them and absorbed their civilization into their
own empire,
the Chimú built the largest urban center to exist in the Americas before
the arrival of the Europeans:
the city of Chan Chan.
While the city’s architecture and impressive crafts have been studied by archaeologists for decades,
recent findings have begun to challenge long-standing assumptions about
the social dynamics
that existed within it.
Chimú society was decidedly stratified, with clear distinctions among
social classes;
the concept of class division even emerges in Chimú mythology,
where nobles are said to have had different origins than common people.
Chan Chan has traditionally been seen as a place that reflected this stark
division
between the aristocracy and the lower classes.
Early excavations in the mid-twentieth century revealed that royals occupied
walled-off,
palace-like complexes in the city center made of high-quality earthen material,
while other elites lived in smaller complexes of similar construction;
commoners, however, occupied simple dwellings on the city’s outskirts
that were constructed merely of wooden strips and mud.
Scholars believed these outer residential areas were primarily home to working-class craftspeople,
such as silversmiths, weavers, and woodworkers,
whose main role was thought to have been serving the needs of the upper
classes.
However, as a team led by archaeologist Gabriel Prieto excavated homes
in these residential neighborhoods, they uncovered numerous artifacts
that indicate these residents were not merely working-class artisans.
Many of the homes contained luxury goods, including fine textiles and precious
metals,
suggesting a level of wealth and status that challenges the traditional
view of
non-nobles in Chimú society.
In particular, the presence of these high-end items, typically associated with the elite,
suggests the existence of an intermediary class - individuals of a higher
social rank
than working-class artisans but not part of the nobility.
These residents may have played important administrative roles,
contributing to the running of the empire while living in the city’s common residential areas.
Prieto’s team also found the residences showed a diverse range of floor
plans,
indicating their occupants exercised a significant degree of freedom
when building them despite the hierarchical nature of the society.
Prieto and his team have also made discoveries that shed light on other aspects of Chimú society.
They have found evidence of ritual practices tied to the Chimú religion,
including indications of child sacrifices.
These rituals appear to have been part of state-sponsored ceremonies designed
to ensure divine favor for Chimú rulers.
While there had been previous documentation of sacrificial rites in Chimú society,
new evidence indicates that some children selected for these rituals may
have come
from the same residential neighborhoods Prieto’s team was studying.
This further suggests the people living in these areas were not isolated
from the elite and were,
in fact, likely intricately connected to the broader cultural, religious,
and political structures of the empire.
The Chimú civilization’s rise to prominence is a testament to their ingenuity,
particularly in overcoming the challenges of farming in a harsh desert
environment
to sustain Chan Chan’s large population,
which is thought to have numbered up to sixty thousand at the empire’s peak.
One of their greatest achievements was the development of complex irrigation
systems;
the Chimú constructed extensive aqueducts and canals spanning up to eighty
kilometers
or more to transport fresh water from valleys outside the city.
Such engineering feats were comparable in scale to the famed aqueducts of ancient Rome,
and many of the structures are still standing and in use today.
While the Chimú knew water was integral to the functioning of their society
and invested a large amount of resources to harness and control it,
they were also aware of its destructiveness.
To protect their farmlands from seasonal flooding,
they built a structure known as the Muralla La Cumbre, a massive two-and-a-half-meter-tall,
ten-kilometer-long wall that was designed to divert floodwaters away
from their fields during the rainy season.
Prieto’s team found there was a large accumulation of sediment at the wall’s edge
and that Chimú farmland contained these same sediments;
this led Prieto to theorize that after the floods receded,
the Chimú collected the nutrient-rich sediments that had accumulated along the wall
and used them as fertilizer to enrich their soil.
Along with such clever agricultural techniques, the Chimú grew crops
that were able to thrive with minimal water, such as corn, squash,
and chili peppers, which remain staples in the region today.
The recent discoveries at Chan Chan are leading scholars to reassess
the complexity of the Chimú civilization and its multifaceted social structure.
They highlight a dynamic urban center that was not solely defined
by the wealth and power of its rulers,
and they provide further insight into the Chimú’s advanced agricultural
knowledge. |
英語検定 １級(2025年第3回No.4)