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Chimú — Collar — Chimú, 1000–1470 CE
Collar — Chimú, 1000–1470 CE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Nathan Cummings Gift and Rogers Fund, 2003, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, CC0

Culture · Late Intermediate Period

Chimú

1000–1470 CE, South America — Andes

The kingdom of Chimor ruled Peru's north coast from Chan Chan, the largest adobe city in the Americas, from about 1000 CE until the Inca conquered it around 1470. Chimú craftsmen mass-produced black reduction-fired pottery in moulds, hammered gold and silver into masks, ear spools, beakers and tumi knives, and wove tapestries and feather cloth. The royal compounds of Chan Chan were looted from the sixteenth century onward and much Chimú gold in collections comes from that long history of huaquero digging. After the conquest, Chimú metalworkers were moved to Cusco to work for the Inca.

Dates1000–1470 CE
PeriodLate Intermediate Period
RegionSouth America — Andes
AreasPeruvian north coast (Moche, Chicama, Jequetepeque, Lambayeque valleys), Chan Chan
Typical objectsVessel, Bottle, Mask, Pendant, Bead, Bracelet
Typical materialsTerracotta, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Marine shell, Turquoise

Identification

Chimú blackware with moulded relief and spout monkeys is distinctive; Chimú gold masks have a flat face, almond eyes and dangling pendants, often with red cinnabar paint, and are of thin sheet with a high silver content. Lambayeque (Sicán) precedes Chimú with the Sicán lord's face; Inca-Chimú hybrids show Inca shapes in Chimú fabric.

Legality

Peru's Law 28296 (2004) makes all pre-Columbian objects national property and bans export; the US–Peru CPIA agreement (since 1997) restricts import of all pre-Columbian archaeological material, and Peru actively seeks repatriation. Chimú gold and silver require particularly rigorous pre-1997 provenance.

Reproductions and fakes

Blackware is reproduced from moulds taken off originals; gold masks and tumi knives are forged in modern sheet with fake cinnabar. Genuine metal shows fine cracking, wear at the perforations and hammered surfaces; genuine pottery has a worn base and interior deposits.

Photographs

Chimú — Earflare with ritual procession — Chimú, 1350–1470 CE
Earflare with ritual procession — Chimú, 1350–1470 CE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jan Mitchell and Sons Collection, Gift of Jan Mitchell, 1991, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, CC0
Chimú — Collar — Chimú, 1000–1470 CE
Collar — Chimú, 1000–1470 CE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Nathan Cummings Gift and Rogers Fund, 2003, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, CC0
Chimú — Earflare with ritual procession — Chimú, 1350–1470 CE
Earflare with ritual procession — Chimú, 1350–1470 CE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jan Mitchell and Sons Collection, Gift of Jan Mitchell, 1991, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, CC0

Age

Materials

Collecting rules

Typical types

Elsewhere

Cite this article

Stratum Strata. "Chimú" (Culture). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/strata/cultures/chimu. Accessed 2026-09-21.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-chimu,
  title        = {Chimú},
  author       = {{Stratum Strata}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/cultures/chimu}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Culture article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, wikidata, met. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

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