A significant industrial complex belonging to the Chimú Empire has been discovered in northern Peru. The site features over 50 large-scale smelting furnaces and specialized workshops for the production of silver and copper alloys used in elite ceremonial items.
The excavation revealed piles of slag and discarded molds for making tumi (sacrificial knives) and ornate pectorals. This 'metallurgical hub' suggests that the Chimú had achieved a level of industrial output previously thought impossible for pre-Columbian South American societies, centralized under royal control to fuel their elaborate funerary economy.