Chimor (also Kingdom of Chimor or Chimú Empire ) was the political grouping of the Chimú culture . The culture arose about 900 CE, succeeding the Moche culture , and was later conquered by the Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui around 1470, fifty years before the arrival of the Spanish in the region. Chimor ( Spanish pronunciation: [tʃi'mu] ) was the largest kingdom in the Late Intermediate Period , encompassing 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of coastline.
183-510: According to Chimú oral history , the history of Chimor began with the arrival of Taycanamo in the Moche Valley from the sea on a balsa raft . From there his descendants would conquer surrounding areas starting with his son Guacriur . Guacricur integrated Chimú reign over the lower valley and Ñancempinco , Taycanamo's grandson would expand the kingdom by conquering the upper valley. Ñançenpinco began to further expansion both north and south of
366-570: A caste and perform a range of roles, including as a historian or library, musician, poet, mediator of family and tribal disputes, spokesperson, and served in the king's court, not dissimilar from the European bard . They keep records of all births, death, and marriages through the generations of the village or family. When Sundiata Keita founded the Mali Empire , he was offered Balla Fasséké as his griot to advise him during his reign, giving rise to
549-406: A better understanding of Homeric epics. The long oral tradition that has sustained Albanian epic poetry reinforces the idea that pre-Homeric epic poetry was oral. The theory of oral-formulaic composition was developed also through the scholarly study of Albanian epic verse. The Albanian traditional singing of epic verse from memory is one of the last survivors of its kind in modern Europe , and
732-493: A change in religious ideology and cosmology that expressed the Sican culture. Most importantly, the late Early Sican period saw the accumulation of these changes in art style and iconography, coupled with other changes in organization, by which the Sican constructed monumental adobe structures, developed large-scale copper alloy smelting and metalworking , and developed the elaborate funerary tradition that would come to characterize
915-503: A collective or tribal memory extending beyond personal experience but nevertheless representing a shared reality. Native languages have in some cases up to twenty words to describe physical features like rain or snow and can describe the spectra of human emotion in very precise ways, allowing storytellers to offer their own personalized take on a story based on their own lived experiences. Fluidity in story deliverance allowed stories to be applied to different social circumstances according to
1098-566: A complex network of sites that provided goods and services for Chimú subsistence. Many of these sites produced commodities that the Chimú could not. Many sites relied on marine resources, but after the advent of agriculture, there were more sites further inland, where marine resources were harder to attain. Keeping llamas arose as a supplemental way of attaining meat, but by the Late Intermediate period and Late Horizon, inland sites used llamas as
1281-536: A heavily rhythmic speech filled with mnemonic devices enhances memory and recall. A few useful mnemonic devices include alliteration , repetition, assonance , and proverbial sayings. In addition, the verse is often metrically composed with an exact number of syllables or morae —such as with Greek and Latin prosody and in Chandas found in Hindu and Buddhist texts. The verses of the epic or text are typically designed wherein
1464-619: A long thread. After the desired lengths of threads are attained, the threads are intersected and woven in various combinations to make fabrics. The Chimú embellished their fabrics with brocades , embroidery , fabrics doubles, and painted fabrics. Sometimes textiles were adorned with feathers and gold or silver plates. Tropical feathers used in such textiles are evidence of long-distance trade. Colored dyes were created from plants containing tannin , mole , or walnut ; and minerals, such as clay , ferruginosa, or mordant aluminum; as well as from animals, such as cochineal . The garments were made of
1647-577: A luxury good traded over long distances, and the shell was often viewed as a symbol of elite status and divine power. Using shell as a medium for their art and artifacts, the Chimú frequently employed the shell of Spondylus , a type of marine bivalve mollusk. The most abundant Spondylus species present in Peru are Spondylus calcifer Carpenter and Spondylus princeps Broderip. Spondylus calcifer has red and white hues, primarily used for beads and artifacts. While this species resides in shallower waters and
1830-407: A main resource, although they maintained contact with coastal sites to use supplemental marine resources. They also made masks. One of the earliest known examples of distance communication is a Chimú device consisting of two resin-coated gourds connected by a 75-foot length of twine. Only one example has been found, and nothing is known about its originator or use. The Chimu capital, Chan Chan, had
2013-405: A means of teaching. Plots often reflect real life situations and may be aimed at particular people known by the story's audience. In this way, social pressure could be exerted without directly causing embarrassment or social exclusion . For example, rather than yelling, Inuit parents might deter their children from wandering too close to the water's edge by telling a story about a sea monster with
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#17330858742002196-483: A phenomenon that is explained by the lack of state formation among Albanians and their ancestors – the Illyrians , being able to preserve their "tribally" organized society . This distinguished them from civilizations such as Ancient Egypt , Minoans and Mycenaeans , who underwent state formation and disrupted their traditional memory practices. Albanian epic poetry has been analysed by Homeric scholars to acquire
2379-615: A physical struggle between a Thunderbird and a Whale. One such story tells of the Thunderbird, which can create thunder by moving just a feather, piercing the Whale's flesh with its talons, causing the Whale to dive to the bottom of the ocean, bringing the Thunderbird with it. Another depicts the Thunderbird lifting the Whale from the Earth then dropping it back down. Regional similarities in themes and characters suggests that these stories mutually describe
2562-540: A position of particular importance, as it was believed to be a more reliable medium for information transmission than prose. This belief stemmed from observations that highly structured language, with its rhythmic and phonetic patterns, tended to undergo fewer alterations during oral transmission. Each genre of rhymed poetry served distinct social and cultural functions. These range from spontaneous compositions at celebrations to carefully crafted historical accounts, political commentaries, and entertainment pieces. Among these,
2745-664: A pouch for children within its reach. One single story could provide dozens of lessons. Stories were also used as a means to assess whether traditional cultural ideas and practices are effective in tackling contemporary circumstances or if they should be revised. Native American storytelling is a collaborative experience between storyteller and listeners. Native American tribes generally have not had professional tribal storytellers marked by social status. Stories could and can be told by anyone, with each storyteller using their own vocal inflections, word choice, content, or form. Storytellers not only draw upon their own memories, but also upon
2928-654: A predecessor to the related faces of the Sican Deity and the Sican Lord of the Middle Sican culture. (Shimada 2000, p. 51) Aside from the shared ceramic styles, much of the Early Sican defines a distinguishable culture. While the ceramic styles and iconography show some continuity with previous cultures, the combination of all the influences is Sican. The changing ceramic styles, iconography , and funerary practices reflect
3111-811: A reason behind indoctrination . Writing systems are not known to exist among Native North Americans before contact with Europeans except among some Mesoamerican cultures, and possibly the South American quipu and North American wampum , although those two are debatable. Oral storytelling traditions flourished in a context without the use of writing to record and preserve history, scientific knowledge, and social practices. While some stories were told for amusement and leisure, most functioned as practical lessons from tribal experience applied to immediate moral, social, psychological, and environmental issues. Stories fuse fictional, supernatural, or otherwise exaggerated characters and circumstances with real emotions and morals as
3294-528: A rock that previously had been polished. Many animals, fruits, characters, and mystical entities have been represented pictorially on Chimú ceramics. Archaeological evidence suggest that Chimor grew out of the remnants of the Moche , as early Chimú pottery had some resemblance to that of the Moche. Their ceramics are all black, and their work in precious metals is very detailed and intricate. Metalworking picked up quickly in
3477-446: A series of elite residential compounds or cuidadelas that were not occupied simultaneously, but sequentially. The reason for this is that Chimu rulers practiced split inheritance, which dictated that the heir to the throne had to build his own palace. After the death of a ruler, all the ruler's wealth would be distributed to more distant relatives. The Chimú people highly valued mollusk shell for its economic and political significance as
3660-427: A society, with the latter much more likely to use oral tradition and oral literature even when a writing system has been developed or when having access to one. The Akan proverbs translated as "Ancient things in the ear" and "Ancient things are today" refer to present-day delivery and the past content, and as such oral traditions are both simultaneously expressions of the past and the present. Vansina says that to ignore
3843-589: A study published in February 2020, new evidence showed that both Budj Bim and Tower Hill volcanoes erupted between 34,000 and 40,000 years ago. Significantly, this is a "minimum age constraint for human presence in Victoria ", and also could be interpreted as evidence for the oral histories of the Gunditjmara people, an Aboriginal Australian people of south-western Victoria, which tell of volcanic eruptions being some of
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#17330858742004026-433: A thin sheet of low-karat gold alloy , was used to wrap ceramic vessels for the lower elites, while the upper elites had high karat gold alloys. Common laborers only had arsenical copper objects. The precious metal objects then clearly demonstrate a hierarchy within the society (Shimada 2000, p. 56). No evidence of metalworking at the large sites has been uncovered, such as the Middle Sican capital Sican or elsewhere in
4209-595: A vast area and many different ethnic groups. The first valleys seem to have joined forces willingly, but the Sican culture was assimilated through conquest. At its peak, the Chimú advanced to the limits of the desert coast to the valley of the Jequetepeque River in the north. Pampa Grande in the Lambayeque Valley was also ruled by the Chimú. To the south, they expanded as far as Carabayllo. Their expansion southward
4392-399: A viable source of evidence for establishing the affiliation between cultural objects and Native Nations. Oral traditions face the challenge of accurate transmission and verifiability of the accurate version, particularly when the culture lacks written language or has limited access to writing tools. Oral cultures have employed various strategies that achieve this without writing. For example,
4575-449: A way to symbolize their relationship to the divine. The sheer size and grandeur of the monumental mounds built above the elite tombs would have been awe-inspiring to Sicán citizens and a symbol the divine nature of the figures buried below. (Shimada et al. 2004) Colorful murals with religious iconography decorated ceremonial precincts in the temples of the mounds, establishing the sanctity of the ritual space, and reaffirming this connection of
4758-576: A written intermediate, and they can also be applied to oral governance. Rudyard Kipling 's The Jungle Book provides an excellent demonstration of oral governance in the Law of the Jungle . Not only does grounding rules in oral proverbs allow for simple transmission and understanding, but it also legitimizes new rulings by allowing extrapolation. These stories, traditions, and proverbs are not static, but are often altered upon each transmission, barring any change to
4941-560: A year, the mollusk tissue contains substances that are toxic to humans, caused by poisonous algae that the mollusks consume. During these months, the shells are offered to weather and fertility deities as “food for the gods”, as it was thought that only deities were powerful enough to eat the flesh of the bivalve. At tolerable levels, human consumption of this toxic flesh may result in muscle weakness, mind-altering states, and euphoria, but in more concentrated doses, may lead to paralysis and death. Because of these hallucinogenic effects, Spondylus
5124-692: Is a medium of communication for a society to transmit oral history , oral literature , oral law and other knowledge across generations without a writing system , or in parallel to a writing system. It is the most widespread medium of human communication. They often remain in use in the modern era throughout for cultural preservation . Religions such as Buddhism , Hinduism , Catholicism , and Jainism have used oral tradition, in parallel to writing, to transmit their canonical scriptures , rituals , hymns and mythologies. African societies have broadly been labelled oral civilisations , contrasted with literate civilisations , due to their reverence for
5307-457: Is also a key socio-cultural component in the practice of their traditional spiritualities , as well as mainstream Abrahamic religions . The prioritisation of the spoken word is evidenced by African societies having chosen to record history orally whilst some had developed or had access to a writing script . Jan Vansina differentiates between oral and literate civilisations, stating: "The attitude of members of an oral society toward speech
5490-407: Is an instrument made of a small wand that usually gets thinner at both ends; that was used alongside a tortera or piruro . The spindle is inserted into the bottom to make a counterweight. It starts spinning, taking the rueca (where the fiber was set to be spun). Fibers that are laid down in the zone are quickly turned between the thumb and index fingers and twisted to interlock the fibers, creating
5673-419: Is captured in the imagery of many portable Andean artifacts, such as bowls, earspools, and textiles. Many of these images are similar, illustrating a boat with sailors holding cords attached to the divers in the water. Stone weights are suspended from the divers as they gather shells, and portrayals of Spondylus often emphasize their characteristic spines. The image to the right features a Chimú earspool, which
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5856-549: Is characterized by the establishment of religious cities with monumental temples. The religious capital city and cultural center of the Middle Sicán is referenced as the Sicán Precinct. (Bruhns 1994, p. 293). This T-shaped area is defined by monumental mounds of Huaca Loro, El Moscón, Las Ventanas, La Merced, and Abejas built between around AD 900 and 1050. The pyramidal monumental mounds were used as both burials sites for
6039-493: Is distinct from oral history , which is the recording of personal testimony of those who experienced historical eras or events. Oral tradition is also distinct from the study of orality , defined as thought and its verbal expression in societies where the technologies of literacy (writing and print) are unfamiliar. Folklore is one albeit not the only type of oral tradition. According to John Foley, oral tradition has been an ancient human tradition found in "all corners of
6222-521: Is easier to obtain, the Spondylus princeps , known as the “thorny oyster” for its characteristic spines, is a solid red color and can only be harvested by experienced divers. Thus, this shell is more highly desired and traded by the Chimú people. Spondylus shell had a wide variety of uses in Andean culture and took a variety of forms, ranging from whole shells to fragments to ground shell powder. This material
6405-513: Is performed. Furthermore, the climate in which traditions are told influences its content. In Burundi , traditions were short because most of them were told at informal gatherings and everyone had to have his say during the evening; in neighbouring Rwanda , many narratives were spun-out because a one-man professional had to entertain his patron for a whole evening, with every production checked by fellow specialists and errors punishable. Frequently, glosses or commentaries were presented parallel to
6588-464: Is revealed in varying burial types and practices, along with accompanying grave goods. The most obvious difference in burial type based on social hierarchy was that commoners were buried in simple, shallow graves on the peripheries of the monumental mounds while the elite of Sicán society were buried in deep shaft tombs beneath monumental mounds, as shown in the East and West tombs at Huaca Loro. Secondly, it
6771-532: Is similar to the reverence members of a literate society attach to the written word . If it is hallowed by authority or antiquity, the word will be treasured." For centuries in Europe, all data felt to be important were written down, with the most important texts prioritised, such as Bible , and only trivia, such as song, legend, anecdote, and proverbs remained unrecorded. In Africa, all the principal political, legal, social, and religious texts were transmitted orally. When
6954-489: Is testified to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the Ṛgveda ( c. 1500 BCE ). Research by Milman Parry and Albert Lord indicates that the verse of the Greek poet Homer has been passed down not by rote memorization but by " oral-formulaic composition ". In this process, extempore composition is aided by use of stock phrases or "formulas" (expressions that are used regularly "under
7137-519: The Bamums in Cameroon invented a script , the first to be written down was the royal chronicle and the code of customary law . Most African courts had archivists who learnt by heart the royal genealogy and history of the state, and served as its unwritten constitution . The performance of a tradition is accentuated and rendered alive by various gesture, social conventions and the unique occasion in which it
7320-572: The Jequetepeque around 1320 and changed the political structure of the society. Places like Pacatnamú were left behind and other sites like Farfán had increased laborers for administrative compounds constructed under the supervision of Imperial administrators. Land use, agricultural methods and settlement patterns of the Jequetepeque societies all changed after the conquest. Many households had to see tribute requirements and agricultural production increased. The state governed such social classes until
7503-742: The Kouyate line of griots . Griots often accompany their telling of oral tradition with a musical instrument, as the Epic of Sundiata is accompanied by the balafon , or as the kora accompanies other traditions. In modern times, some griots and descendants of griots have dropped their historian role and focus on music, with many finding success, however many still maintain their traditional roles. Albanian traditions have been handed down orally across generations. They have been preserved through traditional memory systems that have survived intact into modern times in Albania ,
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7686-518: The Moche Valleys . The first valleys seem to have joined forces willingly, but the Sican culture was acquired through conquest. They also were significantly influenced by the pre-Inca Cajamarca and Wari cultures . According to legend, its capital of Chan Chan was founded by Taycanamo, who arrived in the area by sea. Chimor was the last kingdom that had any chance of stopping the Inca Empire . But
7869-603: The Wari Empire and the Middle Cajamarca polity enabled the resurgence in local political and religious identity and autonomy. The Middle Sican culture is marked by distinctive characteristics in six areas: art and ideology, crafts and technology, funerary customs, long-distance trade, religious cities and monumental temples, and the structure and authority of the state (Shimada 2000, p. 52-61; Shimada 1985, p. 365-369). Together, these characteristics provide evidence that
8052-431: The adobe bricks used to make the mounds are indications of the patrons donating materials and/or labor for the construction of the temples (Shimada 2000, p. 60). This construction technique required "large-scale, unified construction with centrally pooled materials and labor force" (Shimada 2000 p. 60). It allowed for rapid erection of monumental buildings while minimizing labor and material investment and promoted
8235-502: The attributes of Allah —all-mighty, all-wise, all-knowing, all-high, etc.—often found as doublets at the end of a verse. Among the other repeated phrases are "Allah created the heavens and the earth" (found 19 times in the Quran). As much as one third of the Quran is made up of "oral formulas", according to Dundes' estimates. Bannister, using a computer database of (the original Arabic) words of
8418-484: The ciudadela according to their area of specialization. Archeologists have noted a dramatic increase in Chimú craft production, and they believe that artisans may have been brought to Chan Chan from another area taken as a result of Chimú conquest. As there is evidence of both metalwork and weaving in the same domestic unit, it is likely that both men and women were artisans. They engaged in fishing, agriculture, and metallurgy, and made ceramics and textiles from cotton and
8601-643: The oral word and widespread use of oral tradition. Oral tradition is memories, knowledge, and expression held in common by a group over many generations: it is the long preservation of immediate or contemporaneous testimony . It may be defined as the recall and transmission of specific, preserved textual and cultural knowledge through vocal utterance. Oral tradition is usually popular, and can be exoteric or esoteric . It speaks to people according to their understanding, unveiling itself in accordance with their aptitudes. As an academic discipline , oral tradition refers both to objects and methods of study. It
8784-552: The Batán Grande area of the La Leche Valley. The climate of the area during Sican occupation was similar to the current climate, despite changes in landscape accumulated in the last 600 years. The drought-and-flood cycles seen in the region for the past 1500 years did not spare the Sican culture. (Goldstein and Shimada 2007, p. 49) The Early Sican period began around 750 and lasted until 900. The lack of artifacts has limited
8967-469: The Batán Grande area, but the precious metal objects were clearly for the elites. From their high status sites, the elites supervised the manufacturing of their precious metal objects for ritual or funerary purposes (Shimada and Merkel 1991, p. 86). Excavations of religious sites have revealed much about the funerary practices of the Sicán people. These funerary practices have helped anthropologists understand
9150-555: The Chimú economy. Worshipping the moon , the Chimú, unlike the Inca, considered it more powerful than the sun . Offerings played an important role in religious rites. A common object for offerings, as well as one used by artisans, was the shell of the Spondylus shellfish, which resides only in the warm coastal waters off present-day Ecuador . Associated with the sea, rainfall, and fertility, Spondylus shells were highly valued and traded by
9333-556: The Chimú established the hierarchy during the early stages of their expansion. The existing elite at peripheral locations, such as the Jequetepeque Valley and other centers of power, were incorporated into the Chimú government on lower levels of the hierarchy. These lower-order centers managed land, water, and labor, while the higher-order centers either moved the resources to Chan Chan or carried out other administrative decisions. Rural sites were used as engineering headquarters, while
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#17330858742009516-446: The Chimú people, and the exchange of the shells played a significant economic and political role in the empire. The Chimú people are best known for their distinctive monochromatic pottery and fine metal working of copper , gold , silver , bronze , and tumbaga (copper and gold). The pottery is often in the shape of a creature or has a human figure sitting or standing on a cuboid bottle. The shiny black finish of most Chimú pottery
9699-538: The Deity. The population of Batán Grande included many skilled artisans. Craft production during the Middle Sican flourished and became one of the leading characteristics of the period. The highly polished black finish ceramics from the Early Sican bloomed in this later phase, along with metallurgy ; however, the ceramic technology used in the Middle Sican developed over 2500 years from local pottery production techniques (Shimada and Wagner 2001, p. 26). Workshops, such as
9882-489: The Early Chimú period." (37) These pyramids are built of adobe in rectangular shapes made from molds. "Early Chimú cemeteries are also found without pyramid associations. Burials are usually in extended positions, in prepared tombs. The rectangular, adobe-lined and covered tombs have niches in their walls in which bowls were placed." (39) The Early pottery is also characterized by realistic modeling and painted scenes. During
10065-443: The Inca conquest began in the 1470s by Topa Inca Yupanqui , defeating the emperor and descendant of Taycanamo, Minchançaman, and was nearly complete when Huayna Capac assumed the throne in 1493. The Chimú resided on a strip of desert on the northern coast of Peru . The rivers in the region carved a series of fertile valley plains, which were very flat and well-suited to irrigation. Agriculture and fishing were both very important to
10248-466: The Kingdom by conquering the head of the valley of Chimor and the neighboring valleys of Sana, Pacasmayo, Chicama, Viru, Chao and Santa." The estimated founding date of the last Chimú kingdom is in the first half of the fourteenth century. Nacen-pinco was believed to have ruled around 1370 and was followed by seven rulers whose names are not yet known. Minchançaman followed these rulers, and was ruling around
10431-437: The La Leche Valley. This black-finish ceramic style began in the Moche culture prior to the Early Sican, and shows the sharing of cultures in the region. Much of the ceramics were examples of a single spout, loop-handle bottle, featuring an anthropomorphic -avian (bird) face at the spout base. The face consisted of bulging eyes, a hooked beak or triangular projection instead of a nose, stylized ears, and no mouth. It appeared to be
10614-483: The Lambayeque Valley dating to the Sicán. The first type is the T-shaped mound, which is a relatively low mound with a short, central ramp providing direct access to the top of the mound. The second type is a relatively tall mound with steep sides and a zig-zagging ramp to provide circuitous access to the mound top. This second type also featured an enclosed structure at the top of the mound, likely for private rituals, whereas
10797-488: The Lambayeque region point to the convergence of major factors to allow such an occurrence: accessible ore deposits, extensive forests for hardwood to make charcoal, pottery making tradition using efficient kilns, gold working tradition that formed the basis for later metalworking technology, and a demand for goods by the elites (Shimada, Goldstein, Wagner, Bezur 2007, p. 339). The large number of smelting sites also point to
10980-487: The Late Chimú periods. The Chimú worked with metals such as gold, silver, and copper. Some Chimú artisans worked in metal workshops divided into sections for each specialized treatment of metals: plating, gold, stamping, lost-wax, pearl, the watermark, and embossing wooden molds. These techniques produced large variety of objects, such as cups, knives, containers, figurines, bracelets, pins, and crowns. They used arsenic to harden
11163-452: The Late Sican and reflect the revitalization of the religion going back to tradition relationships with nature. Icons include felines, fish, and birds that were secondary to the Sican Deity during the previous era, but were also linked to previous cultures in the area. Sican material culture, such as ceramics and metallurgy, unrelated to religion or politics did not suffer a severe change during
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#173308587420011346-421: The Late Sican since the idea of mounds were not associated with the fall of the Middle Sican, only those mounds in Batán Grande. The same types of ceremonial and religious artifacts made from the same materials were found at Túcume. The site grew enormously during its 250-year Late Sican occupation. By the time of the Chimú conquest of the Lambayeque region in 1375, there were 26 major mounds and enclosures. The site
11529-467: The Middle Sican (Shimada 1985, p. 361). Such changes have been seen by researchers at sites in Batán Grande, including the Huaca del Pueblo site, dated to around 850-900. The Middle Sican period lasted from 900 to 1100 . This is the period of the Sican's "cultural florescence", and is marked by the emergence of various cultural innovations, some of which were unprecedented in the local area. The decline of
11712-429: The Middle Sican to Late Sican transition. Agriculture and irrigation were also not affected by the transition of political and religious power, as evidenced by the lack of effects on Pampa de Chaparri and numerous large urban hill-side settlements. Túcume took on the religious and ceremonial prestige as the site of Sican claimed during the Middle Sican. The mounds and temples from the Middle Sican were continued into
11895-549: The Moche and preceded the Inca Empire , the historical civilization that encountered the Spanish explorers and conquistadors . The Sican inhabited a coastal territory near the La Leche and Lambayeque Rivers . The archaeological sites span the Lambayeque region, including the Motupe, La Leche, Lambayeque, and Zaña valleys, near modern-day Chiclayo . Numerous sites have been identified in
12078-566: The Qur'anic text was generated." Dundes argues oral-formulaic composition is consistent with "the cultural context of Arabic oral tradition", quoting researchers who have found poetry reciters in the Najd (the region next to where the Quran was revealed) using "a common store of themes, motives, stock images, phraseology and prosodical options", and "a discursive and loosely structured" style "with no fixed beginning or end" and "no established sequence in which
12261-490: The Quran and of their "grammatical role, root, number, person, gender and so forth", estimates that depending on the length of the phrase searched, somewhere between 52% (three word phrases) and 23% (five word phrases) are oral formulas. Dundes reckons his estimates confirm "that the Quran was orally transmitted from its very beginnings". Bannister believes his estimates "provide strong corroborative evidence that oral composition should be seriously considered as we reflect upon how
12444-569: The Quran from memory, not reading, the predominant mode of teaching it to others. To this day the Quran is memorized by millions and its recitation can be heard throughout the Muslim world from recordings and mosque loudspeakers (during Ramadan ). Muslims state that some who teach memorization/recitation of the Quran constitute the end of an "un-broken chain" whose original teacher was Muhammad himself. It has been argued that "the Qur'an's rhythmic style and eloquent expression make it easy to memorize," and
12627-523: The Sican Deity It decorates all artistic media of the Sicán, including ceramics, metal works, and textiles. The icon is most commonly represented with a mask face and upturned eyes. Sometimes it may be shown with avian features, such as beaks, wings, and talons, which are evident in Early Sicán ceramics. These avian features are related to Naylamp , the key figure in Sicán mythology. The name "Naylamp"
12810-444: The Sicán culture had a highly productive economy, clear social differentiation, and an influential religious ideology. The religious ideology was the underpinning of the structure of their theocratic state. Sicán art is representational in style and religious in nature. Features such as sculptural representation and the minimization of number of colors (one to three), were common among the art of many earlier cultures that flourished on
12993-508: The Vedangas. Each text was recited in a number of ways, to ensure that the different methods of recitation acted as a cross check on the other. Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat summarizes this as: These extraordinary retention techniques guaranteed an accurate Śruti, fixed across the generations, not just in terms of unaltered word order but also in terms of sound. That these methods have been effective,
13176-553: The amount of cultural identities within the civilization. They also incorporated political ideologies along with cultural beliefs this is seen with the Late Sicán in the north and the Casma in the South. Despite this, many areas kept distinctive aspects of their culture and some gained autonomy after the conquest. It has been argued that Chimú leaders conquered territories further away because of
13359-407: The amount of labor required by using their method. In modern standards, their copper-alloy smelting was inefficient, which could have led to the high number of workshops with multiple furnaces (Shimada and Merkel 1991, p. 85). The precious metal objects found in Middle Sican sites reveal the unprecedented scale of their production and use. Metal objects permeated all levels of society. Tumbaga ,
13542-473: The ancient Greek and Roman civilizations were an exclusive product of an oral tradition. An Irish seanchaí (plural: seanchaithe ), meaning bearer of "old lore" , was a traditional Irish language storyteller (the Scottish Gaelic equivalent being the seanchaidh, anglicised as shanachie). The job of a seanchaí was to serve the head of a lineage by passing information orally from one generation to
13725-583: The architecture and ornamentation of these structures symbolize the treasures of the sea. Los Buceadores (the Divers), a relief in Chan Chan in Ciudadela Uhle, displays imagery of a pair of figures in a tule boat, one of whom holds a paddle, and another pair of shell divers beneath the boat and connected to ropes. The relief also features a net-like semicircle, as well as spiny figures that represent shells. Much of
13908-627: The area. Their materials came from mainly the northern Andes, such as Ecuador (from the Manteno and Milagro cultures), Peru, Colombia, but could have also reached as far south as the Tiwanaku empire in the south-central Andes and east to the Marañón River , a major tributary of the Amazon River . The Middle Sican trade networks appear to be unprecedented in range and goods involved, which helped to insure
14091-437: The association of the shell with divine power and the supernatural world. The external spines of Spondylus lend to the shell its ties to strength and protection. Because of its shape and red blood-like color, the shell often represents death, sacrifice, and ritual bloodletting practices, as well as female reproductive body parts. Known as the "daughter of the sea," the Spondylus shell has also been linked to femininity, with
14274-450: The black ceramics, while only the social elite had access to the precious metal object; therefore, metalworking probably was given production preference by the elites (Goldsmith and Shimada 2007, p. 47). The greatness of Middle Sican metallurgy was the large-scale smelting and diverse use of arsenical copper , which was more ductile and corrosion-resistant than pure copper. The great amounts of smelting and/or metalworking sites found in
14457-531: The broader organization and structure of Sicán society and religion. Most of the evidence for these funerary practices has been based on excavations carried out at the Huaca Loro site in the city of Poma, located at Batán Grande, in La Leche Valley, by Izumi Shimada and the SAP. First of all, the funerary practices at Huaca Loro reflect the social differentiation and hierarchy present Sicán society. This social stratification
14640-531: The buried elite below to the divine. (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, Shimada et al. 2004) Also, the principal personage of the East Tomb at Huaca Loro wears a mask identical to the Sicán Deity, which is another reference to his relationship to the Deity and the divine. (Shimada et al. 2004, p. 389) The construction itself of these monumental mounds served as a reminder of the elite's power and endurance, and combined with
14823-401: The canals were being built; later they operated as maintenance sites. The numerous broken bowls found at Quebrada del Oso support this theory, as the bowls were probably used to feed the large workforce that built and maintained that section of canal. The workers were probably fed and housed at state expense. Cultural and Economic Exchange The Chimú's vast territorial expansion increased
15006-406: The celestial world (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 66; Shimada 2000, p. 52-53). Through the iconography which the Sicán associated with the icon, anthropologists theorize that the Sicán Deity may have been attributed with power to control all of the celestial forces fundamental to life and abundance (Shimada 2000, p. 53). the lack of representation of humans in Middle Sicán art emphasizes
15189-524: The centralization of political and religious power in order to plan and complete these monumental mounds. While the Sican ceramics and metallurgy are vastly studied, agriculture during the Middle to Late Sican may have been linked to their increasing craft production. Shimada suggests that the canals at Pampa de Chaparri were developed by the Sican as part of an agro-industrial complex marked by an increase in mining and smelting operations, settlement growth, and
15372-411: The concept or representation of the icon of the Sicán Deity. Both the preceding Moche and Wari cultures feature a single dominant male figure, and the upturned eyes characteristic of the Sicán Deity are common to the art and iconography of other Pre-Hispanic societies. The iconography accompanying the Sicán Deity was unique and significant (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 66). Iconography of the moon and
15555-464: The corrupt and uncorrupted hadith, this other source of revelation is not nearly so free of corruption because of the hadith's great political and theological influence.) At least two non-Muslim scholars ( Alan Dundes and Andrew G. Bannister) have examined the possibility that the Quran was not just "recited orally, but actually composed orally". Bannister postulates that some parts of the Quran—such as
15738-486: The decisions on most other matters concerning organization, monopolizing production, storage of food and products, and distribution or consumption of goods. The majority of the citizens in each ciudadela were artisans. In the late Chimú, about 12,000 artisans lived and worked in Chan Chan alone. They engaged in fishing, agriculture, craft work, and trade. Artisans were forbidden to change their profession, and were grouped in
15921-460: The development of knowledge about this early period. The Sican were probably descendants of the Moche culture, which fell around 800. Their works shows shared motifs in the artifacts recovered. Similar groups include Cajamarca , Wari , and Pachacamac . From remains found in the archaeological locations, researchers have determined that this culture maintained commercial exchange with people from present-day Ecuador (shells and snails), Colombia to
16104-486: The deviations in inheritance. The opposition to this is that an El Niño that had caused the state to increase the extractive economy in place and get supplies from other areas of the Andes. This El Niño is theorized to have occurred around A.D. 1100 and would have caused the destruction of irrigation canals. Both arguments suggest that agriculture expansion led to increased identities socially and politically. The Chimú conquered
16287-451: The drought that surely weakened agriculture in the area, the tolerance of the common population plummeted, forcing the removal of the political and religious leadership at Sican to save the people. There was little or no repair of the destruction of Sican, and further damage was inflicted by El Nino floods around 1100. The burning and abandonment of the previous capital meant that a new capital needed to be built. Túcume or "el Purgatorio"
16470-451: The duality either way would be reductionistic. Vansina states: Sican culture The Sican (also Sicán ) culture is the name that archaeologist Izumi Shimada gave to the culture that inhabited what is now the north coast of Peru between about 750 and 1375 CE. According to Shimada, Sican means "temple of the Moon". The Sican culture is also referred to as Lambayeque culture, after
16653-430: The elite and places of worship and ritual. The construction of the monumental mounds required considerable material, labor resources and time, indicating the Sicán elite's control and monopoly over the society's resources and manpower. They are a dramatic symbol of the power, wealth and permanence of the Middle Sicán elite and their theocratic state that dominated much of the north coast. Two types of mounds are found in
16836-575: The elite included semi-precious stone objects, amber, feathers, textiles, imported shells (such as conus and spondylus ), shell beads, and double spout bottles. (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 87; Shimada 2000, p. 56; Bruhns 1994, p. 290) On the other hand, commoner burials had a significantly less amount of grave goods of different types, made of less valuable materials. For example, commoner grave goods at Huaca Loro were usually restricted to single-spout bottles, utilitarian plain and/or paddle decorated pottery, and copper-arsenic objects, instead of
17019-489: The elite tombs at Huaca Loro, through the grouping and placement of bodies. The complex internal organization of both East and West Tombs was designed according to specific social and kinship relationships (Shimada et al. 2004). Recent studies that included the use of MtDNA (systematic mitochondrial DNA) analysis and inherited dental traits analysis revealed that women in the West Tomb were grouped according to their kinship ties to
17202-564: The emperor Minchançaman, and was nearly complete when Huayna Capac assumed the throne in 1493. They moved Minchançaman, the final Chimú emperor, to Cusco and redirected gold and silver there to adorn the Qurikancha . Chan Chan could be said to have developed a bureaucracy due to the elite's controlled access to information. The economic and social system operated through the import of raw materials, where they were processed into prestige goods by artisans at Chan Chan. The elite at Chan Chan made
17385-560: The empire of the Sican culture conquered the kingdom of Lambayeque, Peru . The legends of war were said to have been told by the leaders Naylamp in the Sican language and Taycanamo in Chimú . The people paid tribute to the rulers with products or labor. Chimor was the last Andean kingdom capable of stopping the Inca Empire, but the Inca conquest began in the 1470s by Topa Inca Yupanqui , defeating
17568-441: The episodes must follow".{{ref|group=Note|Scholar Saad Sowayan referring to the genre of "Saudi Arabian historical oral narrative genre called suwalif ". The Catholic Church upholds that its teaching contained in its deposit of faith is transmitted not only through scripture , but as well as through sacred tradition . The Second Vatican Council affirmed in Dei verbum that
17751-669: The existing evidence for shell-working in the Andes stems from archaeological findings and colonial texts. Spondylus is abundant in sites across Peru, discovered in burial sites and with the remains of shell workshops. The high level of uniformity in these shell objects, combined with the technical nature of shell-working, indicate that Spondylus production was domestic and carried out by independent craftsmen. Many collections of Spondylus artifacts contain objects from various stages of shell production: whole shells, fragments, worked pieces, and debris from shell reduction. Though researchers have uncovered worked shell debris and ample proof for
17934-405: The expansion of agriculture. Along the canals, 39 Middle Sican sites and 76 Late Sican sites were identified; however, few sites were located in the irrigation fields. This Sican occupation at the irrigation system points to its construction during the Middle Sican. The construction of this irrigation system, as well as the association of hierarchical social units and canal branches, coincides with
18117-768: The first by comparing inconsistencies in the transmitted versions of literature from various oral societies such as the Greek, Serbia and other cultures, then noting that the Vedic literature is too consistent and vast to have been composed and transmitted orally across generations, without being written down. In the Middle East, Arabic oral tradition has significantly influenced literary and cultural practices. Arabic oral tradition encompassed various forms of expression, including metrical poetry , unrhymed prose , rhymed prose ( saj' ), and prosimetrum —a combination of prose and poetry often employed in historical narratives. Poetry held
18300-630: The first dynasty of prehistoric kings in La Leche and Lambayeque valleys. In The Legend of Naylamp, first recorded in the 16th century by the Spanish chronicler Miguel Cabello de Balboa , Naylamp is said to have traveled on a balsa raft by sea to the Lambayeque shores. He founded a large city, and the 12 sons of his eldest son each founded a new city in the Lambayeque region. When Naylamp died, he sprouted wings and flew off to another world (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 18 and 65). Middle Sicán art did not change
18483-611: The first type of mound was likely for public rituals (Shimada 2000, p. 60; Shimada, Shinoda, Farnum, Corruccini, Watanabe 2004, p. 388). The mounds also covered and protected the shafts of tombs of elites underneath. The Sicán used a walled-chamber-and-fill technique (which first appeared on the North Coast during Moche V) for constructing the monumental mound where the walls were created by adobe bricks and mortar in conjunction with chambers of superimposed lattices filled with refuse and other readily available materials. Marks on
18666-622: The folk epics known as siyar (singular: sīra) were considered the most intricate. These prosimetric narratives, combining prose and verse, emerged in the early Middle Ages. While many such epics circulated historically, only one has survived as a sung oral poetic tradition: Sīrat Banī Hilāl . This epic recounts the westward migration and conquests of the Banu Hilal Bedouin tribe from the 10th to 12th centuries, culminating in their rule over parts of North Africa before their eventual defeat. The historical roots of Sīrat Banī Hilāl are evident in
18849-399: The formation of a bureaucratic system. The Chimú cultivated beans, sweet potato, papaya, and cotton with their reservoir and irrigation system. This focus on large-scale irrigation persisted until the Late Intermediate period. At this point, there was a shift to a more specialized system that focused on importing and redistributing resources from satellite communities. There appears to have been
19032-566: The generations. Many forms of recitation or pathas were designed to aid accuracy in recitation and the transmission of the Vedas and other knowledge texts from one generation to the next. All hymns in each Veda were recited in this way; for example, all 1,028 hymns with 10,600 verses of the Rigveda was preserved in this way; as were all other Vedas including the Principal Upanishads , as well as
19215-499: The great complexity itself of elite burial practices based on social differentiation. Social stratification and hierarchy is also evidenced through the variation in quantity and quality of grave goods associated with those of different social status. The elite East Tomb at Huaca Loro, contained over a ton of diverse grave goods, over two-thirds of which were objects of arsenical bronze , tumbaga (low-karat gold), silver and copper alloys, and high-karat gold alloys. Other grave goods of
19398-860: The help of elaborate mnemonic techniques : According to Goody, the Vedic texts likely involved both a written and oral tradition, calling it a "parallel products of a literate society". Mostly recently, research shows that oral performance of (written) texts could be a philosophical activity in early China . It is a common knowledge in India that the primary Hindu books called Vedas are great example of Oral tradition. Pundits who memorized three Vedas were called Trivedis. Pundits who memorized four vedas were called Chaturvedis. By transferring knowledge from generation to generation Hindus protected their ancient Mantras in Vedas, which are basically Prose. The early Buddhist texts are also generally believed to be of oral tradition, with
19581-436: The help of the Middle Sican religious prestige. Only the geometric designs continued on the pottery into the Late Sican. Metallurgy is one of the Sican's greatest legacies, lasting nearly 600 years at Batán Grande (Shimada and Merkel 1991, p. 83). Some Middle Sican workshops showed multicraft production and it is likely the crafts competed for resources, such as fuel for kilns. Middle- and high-status burials both contained
19764-526: The human intellect, and the memory to retain information and sharpen imagination. Perhaps the most famous repository of oral tradition is the west African griot (named differently in different languages). The griot is a hereditary position and exists in Dyula , Soninke , Fula , Hausa , Songhai , Wolof , Serer , and Mossi societies among many others, although more famously in Mandinka society . They constitute
19947-459: The importance of storytelling in preserving Roman history . Valerius Maximus also references oral tradition in Memorable Doings and Sayings (2.1.10). Wiseman argues that celebratory performances served as a vital medium for transmitting Roman history and that such traditions evolved into written forms by the third century CE. He asserts that the history of figures like the house of Tarquin
20130-479: The introduction of text , oral tradition remained the only means of communication in order to establish societies as well as its institutions. Despite widespread comprehension of literacy in the recent century, oral tradition remains the dominant communicative means within the world. All indigenous African societies use oral tradition to learn their origin and history , civic and religious duties, crafts and skills, as well as traditional myths and legends . It
20313-415: The kilns were used either for ceramics or metallurgy (Shimada and Wagner 2001, p. 28). The Paleteada ceramics used the paddle-and-anvil technique to form and decorate pottery, primarily with geometric designs (Cleland and Shimada 1998, p. 112). The monochrome black pottery became widely popular across the region during the Middle Sican as the Sican themselves began to emphasize the black pottery, with
20496-451: The last survivor of the Balkan traditions. "All ancient Greek literature", states Steve Reece, "was to some degree oral in nature, and the earliest literature was completely so". Homer 's epic poetry, states Michael Gagarin, "was largely composed, performed and transmitted orally". As folklores and legends were performed in front of distant audiences, the singers would substitute the names in
20679-664: The lived experience of earthquakes and floods within tribal memory. According to one story from the Suquamish Tribe , Agate Pass was created when an earthquake expanded the channel as a result of an underwater battle between a serpent and bird. Other stories in the region depict the formation of glacial valleys and moraines and the occurrence of landslides, with stories being used in at least one case to identify and date earthquakes that occurred in 900 CE and 1700. Further examples include Arikara origin stories of emergence from an "underworld" of persistent darkness, which may represent
20862-420: The living elite. (Shimada et al. 2004, p. 389) The variety of grave goods suggests the wide range of power of the Middle Sican elite. They not only received the most grave offerings, but also the best quality and exotic offerings. None of the metalworking sites showed evidence of on-site mining of any of the materials. In addition, the spondylus shell, emeralds, feathers, and other minerals were imported to
21045-487: The long and short syllables are repeated by certain rules, so that if an error or inadvertent change is made, an internal examination of the verse reveals the problem. Oral traditions can be passed on through plays and acting, as shown in modern-day Cameroon by the Graffis or Grasslanders who perform and deliver speeches to teach their history through oral tradition. Such strategies facilitate transmission of information without
21228-435: The metals after they were cast. Large-scale smelting took place in a cluster of workshops at Cerro de los Cemetarios. The process starts with ore extracted from mines or a river, which is heated to very high temperatures and then cooled. The result is a group of prills, such as small round sections of copper, in a mass of slag, which are other materials which are not useful for metallurgy. The prills are then extracted by crushing
21411-418: The millennium have taught us anything, it must be that oral tradition never was the other we accused it of being; it never was the primitive, preliminary technology of communication we thought it to be. Rather, if the whole truth is told, oral tradition stands out as the single most dominant communicative technology of our species as both a historical fact and, in many areas still, a contemporary reality. Before
21594-509: The monumental mound at Huaca Loro, the preparation of the East and West Tombs and performance of the associated rituals required careful and complex planning, and considerable material, labor resources and time, and suggests the elite's control and monopoly of power in society. Secondly, the funerary practices of the Sicán suggest the existence of an elite lineage that used the new Sicán religion to demonstrate and maintain their power (Shimada et al. 2004). The Sicán elite used funerary practices as
21777-582: The name of the region in Peru. It succeeded the Moche culture . There is still controversy among archeologists and anthropologists over whether the two are separate cultures. The Sican culture is divided into three major periods based on cultural changes as evidenced in archeological artifacts. Archaeologist Izumi Shimada , founder of the Sican Archaeological Project, named the prehistoric culture which he discovered in northwestern Peru. They succeeded
21960-494: The narrative, sometimes answering questions from the audience to ensure understanding, although often someone would learn a tradition without asking their master questions and not really understand the meaning of its content, leading them to speculate in the commentary. Oral traditions only exist when they are told, except for in people's minds, and so the frequency of telling a tradition aids its preservation. These African ethnic groups also utilize oral tradition to develop and train
22143-416: The next about Irish folklore and history, particularly in medieval times. The potential for oral transmission of history in ancient Rome is evidenced primarily by Cicero , who discusses the significance of oral tradition in works such as Brutus , Tusculan Disputations , and On The Orator . While Cicero ’s reliance on Cato’s Origines may limit the breadth of his argument, he nonetheless highlights
22326-496: The north ( emeralds and amber ), Chile to the south (blue stone), and the eastern basin of the Marañón River (seeds of gold ). The Lambayeque culture may have been a separate trading people as well. Around 800, the Sican created the city of Poma, located at Batán Grande , in La Leche Valley. Few other Early Sican sites have been discovered. The Early Sican culture is known for the highly polished, black-finish ceramics found in
22509-457: The north coast of Peru. Sicán art reconfigured the motifs, conventions, and concepts of these antecedent cultures (mainly the Wari and Moche) into an overall new and unique style. The references to the old ideas, images and ways of antecedent cultures in Sicán art would have been useful in providing prestige and legitimacy to the new Sicán religion which was emerging. Sicán iconography is dominated by
22692-440: The ocean may symbolize the Sicán Deity's involvement in the wellbeing of marine life and fishermen. Iconography related to water signifies the importance of irrigation and agriculture to the Sicán. Other iconography, such as of the sun and moon, symbolizes the importance of duality in both human and celestial life. Depictions of the Sicán Deity with tumi knives and trophy heads may indicate his omnipotent control in both human life and
22875-468: The oldest oral traditions in existence. A basalt stone axe found underneath volcanic ash in 1947 had already proven that humans inhabited the region before the eruption of Tower Hill. Native American society was always reliant upon oral tradition, if not storytelling , in order to convey knowledge, morals and traditions amongst others, a trait Western settlers deemed as representing an inferior race without neither culture nor history, often cited as
23058-462: The omnipresence of the Sicán Deity in Sicán iconography. The only exceptions are representations of the Sicán Lord, the male elite personage, and his entourage. (Shimada 2000, p. 53) Iconography of the Sicán Lord is almost identical to the Sicán Deity, except that he is shown in natural settings and does not have avian features. The Sicán Lord was probably meant to represent an earthly alter-ego of
23241-628: The one found at Huaca Sialupe to the west of Batán Grande, likely had both pottery and metalworking production sites (Goldsmith and Shimada 2007, p. 45). Ceramics allowed for a medium to convey political and religious ideology in the forms of storage vessels, architectural ornaments, cooking vessels, sculptures of the Deity or animals, and other types proliferated during this period. The potters likely worked separately from one another, rather than in assembly-line type production. Huaca Sialupe excavations produced clusters of similar kilns using local hardwood for charcoal . Field experiments indicated that
23424-405: The oral passing of what had been revealed through Christ through their preaching as teachers. Jan Vansina , who specialised in the history of Central Africa , pioneered the study of oral tradition in his book Oral tradition as history (1985). Vansina differentiates between oral and literate civilisations, depending on whether emphasis is placed on the sanctity of the written or oral word in
23607-530: The overall meaning. In this way, the rules that govern the people are modified by the whole and not authored by a single entity. Ancient texts of Hinduism , Buddhism and Jainism were preserved and transmitted by an oral tradition. For example, the śrutis of Hinduism called the Vedas , the oldest of which trace back to the second millennium BCE. Michael Witzel explains this oral tradition as follows: The Vedic texts were orally composed and transmitted, without
23790-435: The people. The elites were the mediators between the common people and the Sican Deity, as the Sican Deity was the mediator between nature and the Sican people. After 30 years of uncertainty in respect to nature, the temples that were the center of Middle Sican religion and elite power were burned and abandoned between 1050 and 1100. Perhaps the ancestor cult and aggrandizing of the elites caused too much resentment. Coupled with
23973-418: The precious metal objects of the elite tombs. (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 87, Shimada et al. 2004) The power of the elite of Sicán society is demonstrated not only by the amount, quality, and diversity of exotic and status goods accumulated in the tombs, but also by the amount of time and labor that would have gone into making and acquiring them. (Shimada 2000, p. 56) All together, the construction of
24156-458: The presence of shell workshops, they have only identified and discussed very few specific shell workshops. One workshop, which was thought to be maintained by the Chimú people, was identified at Túcume in the Lambayeque Region of Peru by archaeologist and researcher Daniel Sandweiss. Dating back to around 1390-1480 A.D., the workshop comprised various small rooms and contained evidence for
24339-419: The present-day distribution of groups claiming descent from the tribe across North Africa and parts of the Middle East. The epic's development into a cohesive narrative was first documented by the historian Ibn Khaldūn in the 14th century. In his writings, Ibn Khaldūn describes collecting stories and poems from nomadic Arabs, using these oral sources to discuss the merits of colloquial versus classical poetry and
24522-404: The principal personage and each other (Shimada et al. 2005; Shimada et al. 2004). The grouping of women in the south part of the West Tomb were found to be maternally related to one another, as well as the principal personage; the grouping of women in the north part of the West Tomb were found to not only be unrelated to one another, but also unrelated to the principal personage. Further, ceramics in
24705-550: The principal personage or each other therefore were placed and grouped according to some other distinct relationship to the principal personage. This genetic evidence and along with the differing styles of ceramics suggests that the North-niche women of the West Tomb were perhaps descendants of a different ethnic group, the Moche, who had been integrated into Sicán society under political domination (Shimada et al. 2004). While these relationships have not been proved definitively, it shows
24888-572: The production of Spondylus beads. Shell debris from all stages of production, ranging from cut pieces to finished beads, along with the stone tools used to work the shell, were excavated from the site. While many archaeological sources point to the abundance of shell-working, as the remains of shell workshops and artifacts were uncovered widely in Peru, little evidence documents the movement of Spondylus from its source in Ecuador to workshops in Chan Chan . The archaeological record indicates that Chimor
25071-416: The rapid and dramatic growth of the Middle Sican. Irrigation for agriculture was a necessity for the Sican elite to produce a surplus of food to feed artisans and laborers, who in turn support the elites. The Late Sican period began around 1100 and ended with the conquest of the Lambayeque region by the Chimú kingdom of Chimor circa 1375. Around 1020, a major drought lasting 30 years occurred at Sican. At
25254-602: The reign of the Wari Empire over Peru , the mature Chimú culture developed in roughly the same territory where the Mochica had existed centuries before. The Chimú was also a coastal culture - according to legend, its capital of Chan Chan was founded by Taycanamo, who arrived in the area by sea. It was developed in the Moche Valley north of present-day Lima, northeast of Huarmey , and finishing in central present-day Trujillo. Later, it expanded to Arequipa . During this time Arequipa
25437-649: The remembrance of life in the Arctic Circle during the last ice age, and stories involving a "deep crevice", which may refer to the Grand Canyon. Despite such examples of agreement between geological and archeological records on one hand and Native oral records on the other, some scholars have cautioned against the historical validity of oral traditions because of their susceptibility to detail alteration over time and lack of precise dates. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act considers oral traditions as
25620-484: The rule of the nobles. Unlike the Inca Empire, the Chimú did not attempt to expand its command of the Spondylus trade through imperial conquests of neighboring states, but rather, used its existing access to the trade as a religious and financial justification for power. Little information exists about the means by which Spondylus was acquired and exchanged along trade routes, and many scholars have proposed various models for Spondylus movement. The marine bivalve
25803-586: The same metrical conditions, to express a particular essential idea"). In the case of the work of Homer, formulas included eos rhododaktylos ("rosy fingered dawn") and oinops pontos ("winedark sea") which fit in a modular fashion into the poetic form (in this case six-colon Greek hexameter). Since the development of this theory, of oral-formulaic composition has been "found in many different time periods and many different cultures", and according to another source (John Miles Foley) "touch[ed] on" over 100 "ancient, medieval and modern traditions." The most recent of
25986-446: The same privileges as the elite. They had limited access to rituals, bureaucracy, and administrative roles. The high regulations were necessary to keep order with food production and state re-distribution of the products. The class system also helped to determine who would work to create state-sponsored monuments. The Chimú society was a four-level hierarchical system, with a powerful elite rule over administrative centers. The hierarchy
26169-450: The sea and role in water and fertility rituals, used as offerings in agricultural fields to promote abundant crop yields. The Chimú also placed shells in sources of water, such as wells and springs, to bring rain to their fields, especially in times of drought. The symbolic significance of the Spondylus shell is closely related to the physical attributes and biological properties of the bivalve. Its characteristic morphology contributed to
26352-504: The seven re-tellings of the story of the Iblis and Adam , and the repeated phrases "which of the favours of your Lord will you deny?" in sura 55—make more sense addressed to listeners than readers. Banister, Dundes and other scholars (Shabbir Akhtar, Angelika Neuwirth, Islam Dayeh) have also noted the large amount of "formulaic" phraseology in the Quran consistent with " oral-formulaic composition " mentioned above. The most common formulas are
26535-552: The shell was ground into powder and spread out before the Chimor king by an official called the Fonga Sigde, forming a “red carpet” for the ruler as he walked. Shell were likewise used for ornamentation of certain buildings and architectural structures. Found in the tombs of nobles, these artifacts were often used as burial goods and played a role in sacrificial practices. Due to its aquatic origins, shells were prized for their connection to
26718-407: The slag, and then melted together to form ingots, which were fashioned into various items. The Chimú also shaped metals through hammering, as displayed in the image on the right of the silver Chimú beaker. Chimú metalsmiths achieved this technique with simple tools and a single sheet of gold. The artist would first carve a wooden mold. Then they would carefully hammer the paper-thin sheet of gold around
26901-497: The south part were found to be of typical Middle Sicán style, while the ceramics in the North part were of a Mochica style (Shimada et al. 2005; Shimada et al. 2004). This evidence suggests that while the women of the South part of the West tomb were grouped and placed according to their kinship ties with the principal personage, the women of the North part of the West tomb had no kinship ties with
27084-476: The spread of Sican religion and polity outside of the Lambayeque and La Leche valleys (Shimada 2000, p. 58). They also could have controlled the transport methods in addition to the goods being traded. The breeding and herding of llamas on the North Coast since the time of the Moche could have been utilized by the Sican to provide the goods as well as a caravan of llamas to transport the goods considerable distances (Shimada 1985, p. 391). The Sicán culture
27267-408: The stories with local characters or rulers to give the stories a local flavor and thus connect with the audience, but making the historicity embedded in the oral tradition unreliable. The lack of surviving texts about the Greek and Roman religious traditions have led scholars to presume that these were ritualistic and transmitted as oral traditions, but some scholars disagree that the complex rituals in
27450-419: The storyteller's objective at the time. One's rendition of a story was often considered a response to another's rendition, with plot alterations suggesting alternative ways of applying traditional ideas to present conditions. Listeners might have heard the story told many times, or even may have told the same story themselves. This does not take away from a story's meaning, as curiosity about what happens next
27633-453: The strength of their cultivated areas. Huachaques were sunken farms where land was withdrawn to work the moist, sandy soil underneath, an example of which is Tschudi. The Chimú used walk-in wells, similar to those of the Nazca , to draw water, and reservoirs to contain the water from rivers. This system increased the productivity of the land, which increased Chimú wealth, and likely contributed to
27816-404: The symbolic use of Sicán religious iconography to justify the divine merits of the elite lineage, was an attempt by the Sicán elite to "preserve the status quo of inherited rights." (Shimada et al. 2004, p. 370) The funerary rites and rituals performed by the living lineage members served to further reinforce their lineage identity and the three-way relationship between the divine, the dead, and
27999-476: The teachings of Jesus Christ were initially passed on to early Christians by "the Apostles who, by their oral preaching, by example, and by observance handed on what they had received from the lips of Christ, from living with Him, and from what He did". The Catholic Church asserts that this mode of transmission of the faith persists through current-day bishops , who by right of apostolic succession , have continued
28182-488: The time of the Inca conquest (between 1462 and 1470). This great expansion is believed to have occurred during the late period of Chimú civilization, called: Late Chimú, but the development of the Chimú territory spanned a number of phases and more than a single generation. Nacen-pinco, "may have pushed the imperial frontiers to Jequetepeque and to Santa, but conquest of the entire region was an agglutinative process initiated by earlier rulers." (17) The Chimú expanded to include
28365-421: The time of the drought, the Sican Deity, so closely tied to the ocean and water in general, was at the center of Sican religion. The catastrophic changes in weather were thus linked to the Sican Deity, mainly to the failure of the Sican Deity to mediate nature for the Sican people. The Sican ceremonies (and temples/mounds on which they were performed) were supposed to ensure that there was an abundance of nature for
28548-406: The transportation methods of shells and whether they were exported via sea or land. Imagery in Andean pottery and reliefs depict llama caravans carrying shell, providing evidence that the transportation of shell was at least in part overland. Spinning is the practice of combining a small set of threads to achieve a long and continuous thread with the use of an instrument called a spindle . The zone
28731-406: The twist, and colors of the threads, it is likely that all of the fibers were pre-spun and imported from a single location. The civilization is known for its exquisite and intricate metalworking, one of the most advanced of the pre-Columbian era. Chimú ceramics were crafted for two functions: containers for daily domestic use and those made for ceremonial use for offerings at burials. Domestic pottery
28914-536: The univalve embodying masculinity. Spondylus has specialized sensory organs, in particular sensitive eyes and papillae, that Andean cultures associate with extra sensory protection. Sensitive to temperature changes in water and thriving in warmer waters, the shell was thought to have divinatory powers, and because its migratory patterns are related to El Niño conditions, its presence is seen as an omen for disaster. Moreover, Spondylus exhibits seasonal toxicity, known as Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Twice
29097-650: The use of script, in an unbroken line of transmission from teacher to student that was formalized early on. This ensured an impeccable textual transmission superior to the classical texts of other cultures; it is, in fact, something like a tape-recording ... Not just the actual words, but even the long-lost musical (tonal) accent (as in old Greek or in Japanese) has been preserved up to the present. Ancient Indians developed techniques for listening, memorization and recitation of their knowledge, in schools called Gurukul , while maintaining exceptional accuracy of their knowledge across
29280-661: The value of oral histories in written historical works. The Torah and other ancient Jewish literature, the Judeo-Christian Bible and texts of early centuries of Christianity are rooted in an oral tradition, and the term "People of the Book" is a medieval construct. This is evidenced, for example, by the multiple scriptural statements by Paul admitting "previously remembered tradition which he received" orally. Australian Aboriginal culture has thrived on oral traditions and oral histories passed down through thousands of years. In
29463-510: The wooden base. Oral tradition Oral tradition , or oral lore , is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. The transmission is through speech or song and may include folktales , ballads , chants , prose or poetry . The information is mentally recorded by oral repositories , sometimes termed "walking libraries", who are usually also performers. Oral tradition
29646-638: The wool of llama , alpaca , and vicuña . People used reed fishing canoes (displayed in the image on the right), hunted, and traded using bronze coins. The Chimú developed mainly through intensive farming techniques and hydraulic work, which joined valleys to form complexes, such as the Chicama-Moche complex, which was a combination of two valleys in La Libertad. The Lambayeque linked the valleys of La Leche, Lambayeque, Reque, and Saña Jequetepeque. They developed an excellent agricultural techniques which expanded
29829-400: The wool of four animals: the guanaco , llama, alpaca, and vicuna. The people also used varieties of cotton, that grows naturally in seven different colors. The clothing consisted of the Chimú loincloth, sleeveless shirts with or without fringes, small ponchos, and tunics. The majority of Chimú textiles were made from alpaca wool and cotton. Judging from the uniform spin direction, degree of
30012-440: The world". Modern archaeology has been unveiling evidence of the human efforts to preserve and transmit arts and knowledge that depended completely or partially on an oral tradition, across various cultures: The Judeo-Christian Bible reveals its oral traditional roots; medieval European manuscripts are penned by performing scribes; geometric vases from archaic Greece mirror Homer's oral style. (...) Indeed, if these final decades of
30195-453: The world's major religions, Islam claims two major sources of divine revelation—the Quran and hadith —compiled in written form relatively shortly after being revealed: The oral milieu in which the sources were revealed, and their oral form in general are important. The Arab poetry that preceded the Quran and the hadith were orally transmitted. Few Arabs were literate at the time and paper
30378-458: Was a symbol of spiritual transcendence and was viewed as bridge between physical and supernatural worlds. Though the remains of shell workshops and artifacts are abundant in Chimor, the Spondylus shell originates in the warm waters of Ecuador . Harvesting the shell is both a time and labor-intensive process, requiring experienced divers to free dive to depths of up to 50 meters and pry the shells off of rocks. The difficult task of shell diving
30561-496: Was achieved by firing the pottery at high temperatures in a closed kiln , which prevented oxygen from reacting with the clay . The oldest civilization present on the north coast of Peru is the Moche or Mochica civilization, which is identified as Early Chimú. The start of this period is not known for certain, but it ended around 700 CE. It was centered in the Chicama , Moche, and Viru Valleys . "Many large pyramids are attributed to
30744-428: Was an important center for the exchange of trade, and shell often traveled long distances from its geographic source to reach the empire of Chimor. The trade of Spondylus was integral to the expanding political power and economy of the Chimú. The shell was viewed as an exotic material, and the Chimor control of the exchange of the imported luxury good served as a means of political control, establishing and legitimizing
30927-465: Was centered at the walled cities, called ciudadelas , at Chan Chan . The political power at Chan Chan is demonstrated by the organization of labor to construct the Chimú's canals and irrigated fields. Chan Chan was the top of the Chimu hierarchy, with Farfán in the Jequetepeque Valley as a subordinate. This organization, which was quickly established during the conquest of the Jequetepeque Valley, suggests
31110-423: Was constructed as the new Late Sican capital at the juncture of the La Leche and Lambayeque Valleys. Túcume became the new religious and ceremonial center of the Sican. The religious and iconographic legacies of the Middle Sican abruptly disappeared. It is at this juncture, when the Sican Deity and Sican Lord disappear from art, is when the Late Sican begins. Other mythical depictions from the Middle Sican continued in
31293-419: Was developed without higher finishing, while funeral ceramics show more aesthetic refinement. The main features of Chimú ceramics were small sculptures, and manufacturing molded and shaped pottery for ceremonial or daily use. Ceramics were usually stained black, although there are some variations. Lighter ceramics were also produced in smaller quantities. The characteristic brightness was obtained by rubbing with
31476-407: Was first mentioned by the Spanish chronicler Miguel Cabello Valboa , who referred to the Moche figure "Naymlap" in his 1586 Miscelánea Antártica . Later authors believe the form is Mochica Ñañlap , of which the first part is ñañ "waterfowl"; a connexion has been made between the Moche and Chimú cultures and the empire of Chimor and the Mochica language. Naylamp was said to be the founder of
31659-454: Was found that one's social status was also a determinant of the burial position of the body; seated, extended, or flexed. For example, bodies of the High Elite were always buried in the seated position, while commoners could be buried in a seated, extended, or flexed position (Nickle Arts Museum 2006, p. 87; Shimada et al. 2004). Furthermore, social differentiation is manifested even within
31842-402: Was framed by 3 volcanoes. (39) The Chimú appeared in the year 900: Chimor, also known as the Kingdom of Chimor, had its capital "at the great site now called Chanchan, between Trujillo and the sea, and we may assume that Taycanamo founded his kingdom there. His son, Guacri-caur, conquered the lower part of the valley and was succeeded by a son named Nancen-pinco who really laid the foundations of
32025-472: Was known for his justification of the oral tradition and criticism of the written word. Stories are used to preserve and transmit both tribal history and environmental history, which are often closely linked. Native oral traditions in the Pacific Northwest, for example, describe natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. Various cultures from Vancouver Island and Washington have stories describing
32208-434: Was less of a priority than hearing fresh perspectives on well-known themes and plots. Elder storytellers generally were not concerned with discrepancies between their version of historical events and neighboring tribes' version of similar events, such as in origin stories. Tribal stories are considered valid within the tribe's own frame of reference and tribal experience. The 19th century Oglala Lakota tribal member Four Guns
32391-451: Was likely passed down through oral storytelling for centuries before being recorded in literature. Although Flower critiques the lack of ancient evidence supporting Wiseman's broader claims, Wiseman maintains that dramatic narratives fundamentally shaped historiography. In Asia, the transmission of folklore, mythologies as well as scriptures in ancient India, in different Indian religions, was by oral tradition, preserved with precision with
32574-496: Was likely traded either through independent merchants or state-administered long-distance trade, with a north-south movement of the items. One of the first accounts of exchange of Spondylus is a report written by Spanish colonist Francisco Xerez , who was a member of the expedition led by Francisco Pizarro , and describes a raft of luxury goods, such as textiles, emeralds, and gold and silver objects, which were to be traded for Spondylus shells. Researchers likewise disagree on
32757-475: Was made so to facilitate the "preservation and remembrance" of the work. Islamic doctrine holds that from the time it was revealed to the present day, the Quran has not been altered, its continuity from divine revelation to its current written form insured by the large numbers of Muhammad's supporters who had reverently memorized the work, a careful compiling process and divine intervention. (Muslim scholars agree that although scholars have worked hard to separate
32940-422: Was molded from gold-copper and silver alloys and depicts a shell diving scene. The rectangle in the upper half of the earspool is a boat with large sails, and birds reside at the top of the piece. Four divers swim beneath the boat and are near spiky eggshell-shaped shells. Sections of ciudadelas , large compounds often reserved for the kings and elite individuals, were used as storage areas for shell artifacts, and
33123-483: Was not available in the Middle East. The written Quran is said to have been created in part through memorization by Muhammad's companions , and the decision to create a standard written work is said to have come after the death in battle ( Yamama ) of a large number of Muslims who had memorized the work. For centuries, copies of the Qurans were transcribed by hand, not printed, and their scarcity and expense made reciting
33306-580: Was stopped by the military power of the great valley of Lima . Historians and archeologists contest how far south they managed to expand. Life in the Chimú Empire From what scholars can tell the Chimú had a complex and consolidated empire. The capitol consisted of Chan Chan , lower-class, workshops and homes with a population estimate of around 30,000. These workshop were all built in around adobe palaces in order to impose social hierarchy ideals. The Chan Chan also had restrictions and were not offered
33489-406: Was worked to create intricately carved ornaments, tools, and goods reserved for the nobles and deities. Shell fragments have been found as inlays for body ornaments and as beads for pieces of jewelry. The image to the right displays a Chimú collar made of cotton, red Spondylus shell beads, and black stone beads, and the image below displays a sling shot made of shell. Representing wealth and power,
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