CHAN CHAN, the gate to the afterlife.

CHAN CHAN ruins are found in the Peruvian region of LA LIBERTAD (The Liberty).
WEST of the principal CITY OF TRUJILLO. The ruins covers 20 km2 and the urban center covers 6 km2. The ADOVE made  city of CHAN CHAN is the largest in the world.
CHAN CHAN situated in a very fertile-well watered section of the coastal plain was the center or capital of the region. Food was primarily from the sea and included such foods as sea lion, shore birds, mussels and shallow-water fish. Later a decline in the local shellfish food forced them to find food from the ground. Then a major part of their diet included AJI (chili peppers), a great variety of LEGUMES, PACAE, LUCUMA, GUAYABA, and AVOCADO. They traded heavily with other regions obtaining CANE, ALGARROBO, and GUANABANA.
CHAN CHAN is also known for its large amount of intact burial mounds and sub-floor BURIALS.
The burials sites give a major view into the complex organization of the city itself. The mounds or tombs have been found within the city walls toward the SOUTH. The change in the patterns give the idea of the beliefs this people had about the afterlife process. It was a process of learning the way of the cosmos and the way of the world. The cosmic life was compared to sparks of energy forming entities which its primarily role was to teach the way of harmony between them.
Bodies were originally buried lying flat on the back in the earliest mounds because the traveling to the other world had to follow a specific ritual then in later burials the body is placed in a flexed seated position showing a different way to departure in the spirit.
Kings were seen and believed to be divine or semi-divine beings.    
Each king's tomb was located beneath each of the large citadels and the hallways of the tomb spread out from the center and equaled the same amount of ground space that the above palace covered. The king, even dead could continue his duties in the physical world in the same palace. These palaces became royal mausoleums which would have been looked after and maintained by his close kin.
Funerary rites were performed over a long period of time. Large amount of fine goods were scattered around the dead body. Sacrifices of young women who willingly offered themselves to continue serving the king in the afterlife were performed together with a large amount of llamas. It was believed that the afterlife was a mirror of the physical world and the continuity and harmony of both depended on how the individuals in the physical world maintained the unity of both.