Sipan and the Lambayeque Royal Tombs

Site Of The 1987 Discovery Of The Intact Tomb Of The Lord Of Sipan, A Moche Ruler Buried About 1,700 Years Ago With Gold, Silver And Jade, One Of The Richest Archaeological Finds In The Americas. Replicas Stand On Site; The Originals Are In The Lambayeque Museum. · Chiclayo, Lambayeque

Sipan is one of the richest archaeological finds in the Americas. At Huaca Rajada, an adobe mound about 35 km east of Chiclayo on Peru's hot northern desert coast, a team led by archaeologist Walter Alva opened an intact royal tomb in 1987. It held the Lord of Sipan, a Moche ruler buried around 250 AD with a thousand objects of gold, silver, copper and precious stones. The ruins on site now show replicas, while the original treasures are in the pyramid-shaped Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan in the town of Lambayeque, about 12 km north of Chiclayo. Together with the older Huaca Ventarron, the Tucume pyramid valley and the Bruning Museum, they make Lambayeque the best region in Peru for pre-Inca history. Plan one day for the tombs and the museum, and a second for Tucume. It is hot, dry and bright, so go early and carry water and a hat. The finds are real and the setting is plain desert, so go for the history, not for scenery. Book the museum visit around a guide if you can, since the labels are brief and the story is worth hearing.

Moche burial mounds at Huaca Rajada about 35 km east of Chiclayo, with the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum in Lambayeque town, Chiclayo, Lambayeque, Peru

The Huaca Rajada site and its small museum usually open every day in the daytime and close in the late afternoon. The Royal Tombs museum in Lambayeque is closed one day a week, so verify before you go, and has fixed ticket slots with no photography inside. Neither is FREE for foreign visitors. Confirm the current days and times locally.

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