What was the Chimú Empire? A self-critical essay

Abstract

This essay offers a historical account of Chimú studies, beginning with the influential Chan Chan-Moche valley project and considering both the project’s intellectual foundations and the lasting impact of its perspective on subsequent research. Based on the author’s experience conducting archaeological investigations in Casma and Tumbes, the essay explores how the top-down perspective of the Chan Chan-Moche Valley Project can be usefully complicated through the addition of a complementary bottom-up approach.