Surveying and Hydraulic Engineering of the Pre-Columbian Chimú State

Ad 900–1450

Bibliographic Data

ID6044729
AuthorsCharles R Ortloff (0000-0002-8274-1683, FMC (United States), corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume5
Issue1
Pages55-74
Publication date1995-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0959774300001189
OpenAlexW2035407692
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited9

The Chimú state of northern coastal Peru (ad 900–1480) developed massive irrigation-based agricultural systems supplied by intricate networks of canals drawing water from river sources in coastal valleys under their political control. Further intervalley canal systems, some up to 50 miles in length, were constructed to shunt water between river valleys to augment intravalley supplies. A high degree of civil engineering skill was necessary to construct and maintain such complex systems; knowledge of surveying and of open channel flow hydraulics was paramount. Some of the technology used by the Chimú has been investigated: surveying instruments and calculating tools have been unearthed and analyzed to provide some understanding of the technical base used for canal design. Details of the hydraulics knowledge-base have been extracted from computer simulation of the functioning of ancient Chimú canal designs. This article assembles known pieces of information related to Chimú civil engineering practice and attempts to provide a plausible methodology that could have been implemented by the Chimú to survey the precise canal bed slopes necessary for proper hydraulic functioning of large canal systems through rugged Andean foothill and mountain areas

Civil engineering · Geotechnical engineering · Hydraulic Engineering · Hydraulic structure · Hydraulics · Hydrology (agriculture · Irrigation · Archaeology and Natural History · Engineering · Ecology · Geology