The Archetypes of Chan Chan: Archaeologists Are Still Talking Bull…

The pelican and the Chakana were central to Chimu culture

On the taxi-tour around Trujillo´s Chan Chan archaeological sites and museums, Americo drops me off at the Casenelli Museum. A group of guides sit on plastic chairs just beyond the front entrance.

“Hablas Ingles?” I ask one. I am met with blank stares, and all five women shake their heads.

I have no option other to investigate the museum alone to see what I could discover. However, as I ponder over a ceramic with trapeze shapes like the patterns I had seen etched into the dry sands of the Nazca plateau, a small woman with painted eyebrows and a coconut hat comes over and says:

The Importance of the Andean Cross to the Inca and Earlier Cultures

To the Inca and other ancient Andean cultures before them, the Andean Cross, otherwise known as the Southern Cross or the Chakana was not just a sacred symbol that reflected the constellation of the stars, but represented the entire conception of life on Earth. It is also sometimes referred to as the Inca cross by guides – although this is wrong!

The symbol was used other Andean cultures long before the Inca ever existed. The earliest known use was found in a temple at the settlement of Ventarrón in the Lambayeque Valley which dates back some 4000 years.