Huaca del Sol (Temple of the Sun)
Sacred center of the Moche in the Moche Valley · Moche Valley near Trujillo, Peru · ≈ 450–600 CE (the heyday; the monument was built and extended in "layers" from the first centuries CE, the Moche culture — c. 1st–9th centuries)
The Huaca del Sol ("Temple of the Sun") is the largest adobe structure in pre-Columbian America: a stepped mass of more than 130 million mud bricks raised by the Moche culture in the Moche Valley. It was the center of the capital city: rituals were held here, the elite lived here, and rulers were buried here. In the 17th century the waters of the Moche River were diverted through its base in search of gold, leaving only about a third of the monument intact.
Dossier
- Type: Stepped structure
- Ancient city: Sacred center of the Moche in the Moche Valley
- Modern location: Moche Valley near Trujillo, Peru
- Dedication: Ceremonial and administrative center of the Moche: rituals, an elite residence, and burials; the "huaca" that forms the "Temple of the Sun — Temple of the Moon" pair
- Dating: ≈ 450–600 CE (the heyday; the monument was built and extended in "layers" from the first centuries CE, the Moche culture — c. 1st–9th centuries)
- Builders: The Moche (Mochica) culture, the rulers of the capital complex; the bricks bear the marks of more than 100 supplying communities
- Material: Adobe mud brick — by estimates, more than 130 million of them, the largest adobe structure in pre-Columbian America (like the ziggurats, it was built up in layers of "brick")
- Plan: A stepped mud-built mass about 340×160 m at the base (some sources give up to ~345×160 m); once about 50 m high; platforms and buildings on top; because of the destruction it is today an uneven pyramid-shaped "hill" 41 m high
- Base: 340 × 160 m
- Height (originally): about 50 m
- Height (surviving): about 41 m
What matters
The Huaca del Sol has lost about two-thirds of its volume: as early as the 17th century the channel of the Moche River was turned through its base in search of gold, and erosion has been destroying the monument ever since. Today it is an uneven pyramid-like hill about 41 m high; its original height is estimated at roughly 50 m, with a base of about 340×160 m. The mass is stepped, but the sources give no single number of terraces.