page_title: Sican culture
section_title: New Sican
hierarchical_section_title: Sican culture / Historical periods / Late Sican / New Sican
caption_attribution_description: English: The Valleys of Túcume or the Túcume mounds is one of the most important archaeological sites of Peru. Located near the city of Chiclayo, it is composed of a complex of 26 pyramids covering an area of around 220 hectares from the Lambayeque (Sican), Chimú and Inca cultures. Túcume dates from the 11th to 15th century AD.
context_page_description: The Sican culture is the name that archaeologist Izumi Shimada gave to the culture that inhabited what is now the north coast of Peru between about 750 and 1375. According to Shimada, Sican means "temple of the Moon". The Sican culture is also referred to as Lambayeque culture, after the name of the region in Peru. It succeeded the Moche culture. There is still controversy among archeologists and anthropologists over whether the two are separate cultures. The Sican culture is divided into three major periods based on cultural changes as evidenced in archeological artifacts.
context_section_description: The burning and abandonment of the previous capital meant that a new capital needed to be built. Túcume or "el Purgatorio" was constructed as the new Late Sican capital at the juncture of the La Leche and Lambayeque Valleys. Túcume became the new religious and ceremonial center of the Sican. The religious and iconographic legacies of the Middle Sican abruptly disappeared. It is at this juncture, when the Sican Deity and Sican Lord disappear from art, is when the Late Sican begins. Other mythical depictions from the Middle Sican continued in the Late Sican and reflect the revitalization of the religion going back to tradition relationships with nature. Icons include felines, fish, and birds that were secondary to the Sican Deity during the previous era, but were also linked to previous cultures in the area. Sican material culture, such as ceramics and metallurgy, unrelated to religion or politics did not suffer a severe change during the Middle Sican to Late Sican transition. Agriculture and irrigation were also not affected by the transition of political and religious power, as evidenced by the lack of effects on Pampa de Chaparri and numerous large urban hill-side settlements.
caption: The Valley of Túcume in Peru contains 26 pyramids
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