Chan Chan
[1] It is now an archeological site in the department of La Libertad five kilometers (3.1 mi) west of Trujillo, Peru.
Among others, scholars such as Ernst Middendorf, Jorge Zevallos Quiñones, Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino and Matthias Urban have dealt with the question.
The puzzle is made difficult by the erratic nature of its written record in colonial documents and by the linguistic situation of the pre-Hispanic North Peruvian coast.
According to the review of antecedents offered by Urban, there have been three previous etymological proposals for the toponym, two of which can be considered completely fanciful and unmotivated.
The third etymological hypothesis was postulated by German scholar Ernst Middendorf, who offers the Mochica noun xllang 'sun' as etym and finds in the toponym a reduplication of that root.
According to these authors, although it is not possible to offer an etym nor a primary meaning for the place name, the quingnam attribution is justified by the fact that this was the language of the kingdom of Chimor and by the similarity in its apparent structure with other regional toponyms and anthroponyms also apparently constituted by the reduplication of two monosyllabic roots.
[12] Urban concludes that [...]for the moment there is no other solution than to conclude with Zevallos Quiñones ([1995] 2010, p. 11): "As long as there are no grammatical findings about Chimo's own language, Quingnam, in any American or European archive containing sermons, vocabularies, etc., we will remain without knowing the term Chan Chan, since there is no possible scientific help".More recently, linguist Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino has proposed a Quechua etymology for the toponym.
Thus, the current pronunciation would be the product of an "orthographic trap", since originally the
[16] Methods of conservation include reinforcement and stabilization of structures of main buildings and around the Tschudi Palace, using a blend of traditional and modern engineering techniques.
[20] The archaeological site covers an area of approximately 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi), being considered the largest adobe city in the Americas and the second in the world.
[21] The walled complex "Tschudi" is the greatest in illustration of the importance of water, particularly of the sea, and of the cult that surrounded it in the Chimu culture.
The high reliefs of the walls represent fish, directed towards the north and the south (what can be interpreted as representation of the two currents that mark the Peruvian coast: that of Humboldt, cold, that comes from the south and the one of El Niño, hot, that comes from the north), waves, rombito (fishing nets), as well as pelicans and anzumitos (mixture of sea lion and otter).
This coastal society was governed by the powerful Chimucapac and was united by the force of a social control originated in the necessity of a strict management of the water, as well as by the external threats.
It is believed that Tschudi was built in honor of the Chimú God of the sea whose name in quingnam is unknown.
[26] The city has ten walled ciudadelas which housed ceremonial rooms, burial chambers, temples, reservoirs and residences for the Chimú kings.
[28] There are no enclosures opening north because the north-facing walls have the greatest sun exposure, serving to block wind and absorb sunlight where fog is frequent.
[29] To increase the farmland surrounding the city, a vast network of canals diverting water from the Moche river were created.
Many canals to the north were destroyed by a catastrophic flood around 1100 CE, which was the key motivation for the Chimú to refocus their economy to one rooted in foreign resources rather than in subsistence farming.
[31][32] In particular, the city is severely threatened by storms from El Niño, which causes increased precipitation and flooding on the Peruvian coast.
Global warming will only further these negative impacts, as some models suggest climate change facilitates increased precipitation.
Different methods of survey can be utilized but any methodology must be both quick enough to maximize access to extant physical material and accurate enough to document the site effectively.
[34] Protective coverings at the site, intended to inhibit the extent of weathering damage to adobe structures, can be a challenge to the use of UAV's.
These methods also allow archaeologists to have access to the virtual reproductions into the future and foreseeable technological innovations will most likely add to the potential for analysis of the site.
[34] Roberto Pierdicca of the Polytechnic University of the Marches (Ancona, Italy) conducted imaging missions and compiled a series of results to make conclusions about the scale of the site in 2017.
[34] The mission employed a Da-Jiang Innovations drone equipped with a Sony Alpha NEX-7 6000 x 3376 pixel resolution camera.
Multi View Stereo processing was used to combine the overhead images with those from the ground and form the 3D model.
[34] These models form a baseline for future combinations of overhead imaging with ground surveys at other sites.
The archaeological approach is important for the conservation of sites as it allows the data to exist into the future even as looting occurs and weathering takes place.
Between 2016 and 2022, an international project between the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) and the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica (CONCYTEC) was conducted at the site.
[35] Creating 3D models of the Huaca Arco Iris is one major initiative of the Italian Mission in Peru.
