Sican Archeological Complex

A national archeological and ecological reserve 50 km (45 minutes) north of Chiclayo. It is a group of twenty mud pyramids spread out over a 46-km2 area within the Batan Grande Hacienda. It is made up of the huacas (mounds) Botija, Colorada, Horno de los Ingenieros, Huaca Loro, La Merced, El Santillo, Las Abejas, La Ventana, Rodillona, La Facho, Cholope, Arena, Corte, and others, which were all built in the middle of a stand of carob trees.

The archeological discoveries astonish us for the plentiful amount of golden objects found there, and it is supposed to be the development center of the Lambayeque or Sican culture. During the research, a tomb was discovered containing valuable funeral paraphernalia such as crowns, belts, masks, bracelets, collars, weapons, armor, and other gold objects besides turquoise, spondylus shell, lapis lazuli and amber beads. You can find a large amount of this collection at the National Sican Museum.

The complex is located in the Pomac Forest Historic Sanctuary, which shelters the most important natural carob tree forest in Peru.

The National Sican Museum

Sican or House of the Moon is a museum that gathers objects from the research lead by the archeologist Izumi Shimada, director of the Sican Archeological Project (1978), for more than two decades.

The exhibition compiles the artifacts found in the site digs of Batan Grande and demonstrates how they were used or fabricated. The intention is to model different aspects linked to the Sican culture through the representation of the details of domestic life, the manufacturing processes, or production work. The rooms represent excavated tombs and exhibit the burial paraphernalia discovered there.

The museum also offers detailed information on the excavation process and site preservation, as well as the chronology, development, trade networks, economic activities, burial patterns, and cosmology of the Sican or Lambayeque cultures.

Visiting Regulations

To help with preserving this invaluable archeological monument and world natural and cultural heritage site, we recommend you bear the following in mind:

Bring drinks in canteens only
Do not bring food or eat within the monument
Do not climb the walls
Put litter in the indicated trashcans
Walk only on the signaled circuits

Recommended Tours

After a detailed review of the commentaries and experiences of our passengers, we can recommend the following Sican tours. We are really sure. you will enjoy as much as them.


The Magic Route of the Lord of Sipan 6 Days / 5 Nights	Buy
The Mystery of Lord of Sipan and Machu Picchu 9 Days / 8 Nights	Buy
The Valley Of Pyramids and Colca Canyon 11 Days / 10 Nights	Buy

Sipan and Sican

The names sound almost alike, but are not the same. Sipan is a town in the Lambayeque Valley where archaeologists found the royal tombs of the Mochicas. Sican, on the other hand, is the name some archeologists give to a culture that flourished between AD 800 and 1100 (after the Mochica culture) and which had its capital at Batan Grande Lambayeque in the La Leche Valley. This ancient people repeatedly depicted a mythological being (The Sican God) in their art. They believed this god had the power to provide water. Curiously, Batan Grande burned down around the year AD 1050. There is evidence of a long period of drought followed by heavy flooding before this event. In Muchik (one of the many languages existing in Peru at the time of the conquest), Sican meant "temple of the moon".