Ancient site · Temple
Huacas del Sol y de la Luna
Also known as Huacas de Moche, Huaca del Sol, Huaca de la Luna
Two huge adobe brick pyramids near Trujillo on Peru's north coast, the heart of the southern Moche state. The Huaca del Sol was built in eight stages by 450 CE from over 130 million adobe bricks, the largest adobe structure in the pre-Columbian Americas; makers' marks suggest more than a hundred communities supplied bricks.
In the 17th century Spanish colonists diverted the Moche River against it to hunt for treasure. The smaller, better-preserved Huaca de la Luna has brightly painted reliefs of a fanged god.
- Dates
- c. 100–800 CE
- Still standing
- Yes
- Location
- 8.13° S, 78.99° W
How we know
No writing existed; the temples are dated by radiocarbon and by Moche pottery styles.
Nearby sites
- Huaca Prieta c. 12,500–2000 BCE
- Sipán (Huaca Rajada) c. 50–700 CE
- Sechín Bajo c. 3500–1300 BCE
- Chavín de Huántar c. 1200–500 BCE (dates debated)
- Caral (Sacred City of Caral-Supe) c. 2600–2000 BCE
- Real Alto Valdivia village c. 3800–1500 BCE (earlier traces)
Related
- Moche culture archaeological culture
- The world in 100: Trajan's Rome, Han China chapter