In northern Peru, beneath layers of arid earth on the outskirts of the La Esperanza district, a wooden figure had been waiting for centuries.
Red face, almond-shaped eyes, a trapezoidal cap with seven alternating bands of color. It had lain there for somewhere between 850 and 1,470 years when archaeologists from the Proyecto Especial Complejo Arqueológico Chan Chan (Pecach) finally brought it to light.
The discovery came during excavations in the third phase of the Huaca Takaynamo restoration project.
The piece — roughly 18.5 inches long and 6.3 inches wide — depicts a figure identified as a litter bearer.
Researchers from Peru’s Ministry of Culture say it offers new evidence that this pyramidal structure on the edge of Chan Chan served a distinctly ceremonial purpose.
What They Found and Where
The sculpture was unearthed at the Huaca Takaynamo, a pyramidal structure in the northern sector of the Chan Chan archaeological complex, in the La Esperanza district of Trujillo province.
The fieldwork is part of a state-funded initiative aimed at restoring the monument, studying its architecture, and opening it to both local and international visitors.
The wooden figure wears a trapezoidal cap — narrow at the top — decorated with seven vertical bands in alternating light and dark colors, with a dark horizontal band running along the bottom edge.
The face is flat and oval, painted red. The nose is straight and prominent. The almond-shaped eyes and circular ears show a slight depression where traces of black resin survive — resin that probably held inlaid mother-of-pearl in place.
Beneath the sculpture, the team documented a small black pouch decorated with brown and white threads. Alongside the figure, they also recovered nectandra seeds that appear to have formed a necklace, some still strung together.
The Technical Distinction That Makes This Find Matter
Archaeologist Arturo Paredes Núñez, head of the Research, Conservation, and Heritage Engagement Unit at Pecach, explained that Chimú wooden carvings fall into two categories: fixed and mobile.
Fixed sculptures have been found at the entrances of certain walled enclosures at Chan Chan, anchored in place by an uncarved lower segment buried in the ground.
Mobile sculptures, by contrast, lack that anchoring element and appear more often in some huacas. The wooden figure found at Takaynamo belongs to this second category.
Paredes estimates the sculpture to be between 850 and 1,470 years old, placing it within the early period of Chimú culture.
What the Discovery Confirms About the Huaca
César Gálvez Mora, acting director of Pecach, noted that the find adds to a growing body of evidence confirming the ceremonial function of Huaca Takaynamo, a structure on the periphery of Chan Chan.
Gálvez Mora added that the excavation is part of the Master Plan for the Conservation and Management of the Chan Chan Archaeological Complex, which is deepening our understanding of a site inscribed on the World Heritage List.
For specialists, these objects are essential to reconstructing the ritual life of the ancient capital of the Chimú kingdom between the 12th and 15th centuries.
Huaca Takaynamo, surrounded by the urban sprawl of La Esperanza, has been under active excavation since April 11, with fieldwork scheduled to run for eight months.
Chan Chan: The Largest Mud-Brick City in the Americas
The setting of this discovery is anything but ordinary.
Chan Chan was the political, religious, and administrative capital of the Chimú kingdom, built entirely of earth between the 8th and 15th centuries A.D. It stands as an extraordinary testament to pre-Columbian city planning and the high point of urban development in the Andean world.
The complex comprises ten walled enclosures known as “ciudadelas,” along with several freestanding pyramids. It is considered the largest adobe city in the world.
Since 1988, it has held UNESCO World Heritage status. That same year, it was also placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger — a designation that underscores the threats facing its mud walls, which are worn down by wind and rain and have long been targeted by looters.
The wooden sculpture found at Huaca Takaynamo is yet another piece of evidence helping to clarify what was happening at the margins of this great city.
Ritual was not confined to its palaces and ciudadelas — it also took place in peripheral structures like this one, where wood, a rare material on the desert coast of northern Peru, was carved, painted, and placed with an intent that archaeologists are still working to understand.
