For all the talk that I have heard about Chan Chan, I was rather disappointed with this archaeological site. Firstly, it looked rather artificial and secondly, very much smaller than I expected.
Chan Chan is one of the 9 palaces, belonging to the Chimu period (just before the Incas), that has been archeologically excavated. The other 8 has not been excavated as yet.
Apparently Chan Chan is 22 hectares wide (with the largest palace being about 40 hectares), though what was made available for public viewing seemed to be just a small portion of the entire palace – mainly the ceremonial and sacrificial chambers.
Women and children seemed to be the commonly sacrificed “objects” back in those days, as the guide mentioned that they had found a number of remains during the initial excavation process.
The corridors that run through the whole place are heavily decorated with carvings of birds, fish, seals, fish net, which is used to depict abundance and the fishing cycle in the area.
The whole place looked very artificial due to the number of replicas placed in many areas of the public viewing zone. These seemed too refined in workmanship that it does not look very “ancient”.
It is a pity for all the hype that there is about this archaeological site in the international space, to end up seeing a large portion of replicas in this place, rather than the genuine look and feel of how the palace may have looked like in the past.
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