Huaca del Sol

Moche civilization pyramid in Peru

Huaca del Sol, Peru

Bruno Girin / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

The Huaca del Sol is an enormous adobe (mud brick) Moche civilization pyramid, built in at least eight different stages between 0-600 CE at the site of Cerro Blanco in the Moche Valley of the northern coast of Peru. The Huaca del Sol (the name means Shrine or Pyramid of the Sun) is the largest mud-brick pyramid in the American continents; although much eroded today, it still measures 345 by 160 meters and is over 40 meters tall.

What Happened to Huaca del Sol?

Extensive looting, the purposeful diversion of the river alongside the Huaca del Sol, and repeated El Niño climatic events have impacted the monument over the centuries, but it is still impressive.

The area surrounding Huaca del Sol and its sister pyramid Huaca de la Luna was an urban settlement of at least one square kilometer, with midden and rubble deposits up to seven meters thick, from public buildings, residential areas and other architecture buried beneath the floodplains of the Moche River.

Huaca del Sol was abandoned after a large flood in 560 CE, and it was likely the influence of similar El Niño-triggered climate events that did much of the damage to Huaca del Sol.

Archaeologists associated with investigations at Huaca del Sol include Max Uhle, Rafael Larco Hoyle, Christopher Donnan, and Santiago Uceda.

Sources

  • Moseley, M. E. "Huaca del Sol." Oxford Companion to Archaeology, Brian Fagan, ed. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996, pp. 316-318.
  • Sutter, Richard C., and Rosa J. Cortez. “The Nature of Moche Human Sacrifice.” Current Anthropology, vol. 46, no. 4, University of Chicago Press, Aug. 2005, pp. 521–49.
  • S. Uceda, E. Mujica, and R. Morales. Las Huacas del Sol y de la Luna.
Format
mla apa chicago
Your Citation
Hirst, K. Kris. "Huaca del Sol." ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/huaca-del-sol-peru-adobe-pyramid-171255. Hirst, K. Kris. (2020, August 26). Huaca del Sol. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/huaca-del-sol-peru-adobe-pyramid-171255 Hirst, K. Kris. "Huaca del Sol." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/huaca-del-sol-peru-adobe-pyramid-171255 (accessed March 28, 2024).