The Moche of Northern Peru - · PDF fileTHE MOCHE OF NORTHERN PERU ... Internacionales y Cooperación de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. ([email protected]). Santiago

THE MOCHE OF NORTHERN PERU

Luis Jaime Castillo Butters Santiago Uceda Castillo

Pontificia UniversidadCatólica del Perú

Universidad Nacionalde Trujillo

Castillo & Uceda, The Moche 2

The Moche of Northern Perú

Luis Jaime Castillo Butters & Santiago Uceda Castillo

Luis Jaime Castillo Butters. Profesor Principal del Departamento de Humanidades, Sección Arqueología y Director de RelacionesInternacionales y Cooperación de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. ([email protected]).Santiago Uceda Castillo. Profesor Principal y Decano de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, LaLibertad ([email protected]).

Handbook of South American Archaeology, editado por Helaine Silverman y William Isbell, Chapter X, City. Blackwell Press.In press, 2007

INTRODUCTION

The Mochicas (also called the Moche) developedas independent and interacting polities in the northernvalleys of coastal Peru between AD 200 and 850 (Fi-gure xxx.1). As with most coastal societies, theMochicas can be understood as a truly successfuladaptation to the coastal environment, wheremaritime resources were combined with an advancedagriculture based on irrigation technology. The large,northern, multi-river Piura, Lambayeque andJequetepeque valleys contrast with the much smallersouthern Chicama, Moche, Virú and Santa valleys.This influenced historical processes, that were quitedistinct, and are only now coming into focus as aresult of long term archaeological research projects.

The Mochicas inherited a long cultural tradition,quite distinct from other traditions in the CentralAndes. From the precocious coastal societies of theLate Preceramic through Cupisnique (Chavin’scoastal spin-off), and into a number of small andlocally constrained societies such as Salinar, theMochica tradition experienced a history of successand failure, adaptation and environmentalcatastrophe, technological mastery in metallurgy andirrigation, and great achievement in art and religiousarchitecture. But because the Mochicas were not onebut many independent polities not all achievements,

nor every trait or characteristic – be it art ortechnology – can be attributed to the whole of theMochicas. The distribution of Mochica culturalfeatures varies from time to time, as do some of theirregional expressions.

On the other hand, it is obvious that the Mochicaswere not alone on the north coast, but interactedthroughout their history with peoples of local,commoner traditions such as the Virú (also calledGallinazo) and probably even Salinar. The Mochicasthemselves apparently arose from this old and lowerclass substratum when large scale irrigationtechnology created a new source of wealth. To a lesserdegree, but nevertheless important for their culturalconfiguration and identity, the Mochicas interactedwith societies that flourished at the same time, suchas Recuay in the neighboring highland Callejón deHuaylas, Cajamarca and Chachapoyas in the northernhighlands, and Vicús on the far north coast.

All knowledge about the Mochicas is based onarchaeological research and even though there is agreat deal of continuity with their successors, theLambayeque and Chimú, and even with moderncoastal societies, sharp differences and culturaldisruptions are evident. The story of the Mochicas,thus, is the story created by the archaeology done at

3Castillo & Uceda, The Moche

Figure 1: Moche regions in the Peruvian north coast.

Mochica sites, the ideas of the researchers who haveworked in the region for the last one hundred yearsand the materials that have become available throughfield research and museum collections. Theintellectual history of north coast archaeology hasmolded our understanding of ancient Mochicasociety, and future research will continue shaping andreshaping it.

In the last twenty years Mochica research hasbeen one of the most popular fields of investigationin the Central Andes, with many long termexcavations in places such as Sipán (LambayequeValley), Huaca del Sol-Huaca de la Luna (or, theHuacas of Moche, Moche Valley), San José de Moro(Jequetepeque Valley), Dos Cabezas, (JequetepequeValley) and El Brujo (Chicama Valley), conducted


by both Peruvian and international research teams.The astonishing amount of information produced andbeing generated by this current research makes italmost impossible to write an accurate and up-to-the-minute account of what is going on, or more properly,what went on with the Mochicas. Even by the timethis volume is published, and certainly a few yearsfrom now, we are sure that archaeologicalunderstanding of the Mochicas will have changed.

MULTIPLE PATHWAYS TO THEORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF

THE MOCHICA STATES

In spite of what is commonly affirmed, Andeanarchaeology still conceives of the development ofpolitical systems as linear and unidirectionalprocesses. Complexity and, ultimately, politicalevolution leading to the formation of states is seensimply as a cumulative, and at times, unavoidableprocess. Societies accumulated institutions and ro-les, legal systems and social divisions that led themfrom fragmented and regionally based polities(chiefdoms), to centralized and hierarchical states.The increase in complexity is merely the aggregationof more layers of institutional components, wheretaxation replaces tribute, bureaucrats take thefunctions that before were in hands of kinship-basedauthorities, and state-controlled production replaceslocal manufacture. Change comes both from internaland external sources. Internally, change is motivatedby the accumulation of small adaptations and«mutations» within the system. It is historicallymotivated by the circumstances of a given societyattempting to maintain a status quo in a changingsocial and natural environment, and by apparentlyinnocuous and cumulative changes, such as those thataffect the evolution of artistic styles. Externallygenerated change is perceived as being more abrupt,as environmental disruptions or foreign threats; thusit is a disruption of the developmental tendencies ofthe society. But, as we have learned, exogenous forcesof change, even when catastrophic, such as ENSO(El Niño) rains or foreign invasions, can seldom bethe only explanation for cultural and social change.More frequently external influences take the form ofcommercial interactions or ideological influences.

Sustained archaeological research hasdemonstrated that the reality of societies in the pastis far more complex than any model or theory canpredict, particularly because it is quite difficult to

reduce a historical process that lasted more than halfa millennium to a single description. The past isclearly not merely a reflection of the present, or ofconditions that describe a more primitive state ofaffairs. Flexibility—in the sense of images that canfit more variability than regularity, where individualsdo not necessarily follow or lead, where negotiationis more likely than domination or resistance—seemsto be the way to understand the evolution of societies.The approach we advocate for studying the Mochicastakes into account singular or specific development,difference in regional expressions, and multiple pathsthat lead to the same result.

Rafael Larco Hoyle, the founder of north coastarchaeology, conceived of the Mochicas as a single,unified and centralized society that originated in theMoche and Chicama valleys (Larco 1945). TheMochicas had a single capital, the Huaca del Sol-Huaca de la Luna site, with an urban center betweenthe two monuments, and from which an omnipotentelite ruled the entire north coast, combining coercionand conviction, military power and a powerfulideology based on elaborate religious liturgy, tem-ples, and ceremonial artifacts that legitimized thedominant regime. A unified Mochica society couldonly have had a single developmental sequence, inwhich the extension of the state first grew steadily tocontrol the valleys north and south, and then declined,losing control of these territories until finally it wassubsumed by a foreign power. A unifieddevelopmental sequence would also translate intoincreasing complexity of its institutions, scope anduse of technologies.

Irrigation and metallurgy, two of the mostadvanced technologies, grew in impact and scope.To sum up all these tendencies, Larco proposed theevolution of fine Mochica ceramics into fiveconsecutive phases (Larco 1948). Mochica potteryis incredibly realistic and rich in images of deitiesinteracting in myth and ritual, as well as humansperforming all sorts of activities, religious andmundane. This iconography has been the ultimatesource of information about this society, but itsdevelopmental change was also the means for timingthe events that marked Mochica history (Larco 2001).It has taken roughly seventy years to learn that Larcowas partially wrong, and that not all phenomena, bethey the origin, development or collapse, the use oftechnologies, the artistic and material cannons, andeven the ritual practices, were as homogeneous as hehad thought. In this heterogeneity rests the clue for


Figure 2: Moche ceramic sequence in the northern and southern regions.

unraveling the mysteries of Peru’ ancient north coastsocieties.

A unified society had to have been the result ofa single developmental process, so, for Larco, theMochicas were the heirs to the old and prestigiousCupisnique tradition, the formative civilization to allnorth coast cultures. Cupisnique, also known ascoastal Chavín, had evolved into Mochica in the firstcenturies of the Common Era, through theintermediation of cultures such as Salinar and Virú(Larco 1944, 1945). Larco was never specificallyinterested in mechanisms responsible for the originsof the Mochicas, but instead studied them from thestandpoint of the development of their materialculture, particularly the ceramic sequences (Larco1948). Mochica ceramics display, in forms and

decorative motifs, evidence that many Cupisniquefeatures passed smoothly from one to the other,implying a cultural continuum. Whether thistransition happened once and in only one place, or inmultiple occasions and locations generating multiplederivations, was not addressed by Larco. For him,once the culture originated, the Mochicas followed asingle line of development, growing in size, andbecoming more complex and refined in every aspectof life, particularly the arts. But the Mochicas werenot alone. At the same time they were developing inthe Moche Valley, another complex society, the Virúor Gallinazo, was developing in the Virú Valley, only40 km south of the Huaca del Sol-Huaca de la Lunasite. The Virú phenomenon was, in Larco’sinterpretation, slightly earlier than Mochica, even


closer to the Cupisnique origin, but limited to thesouthern valleys that eventually were incorporatedinto the Mochica realm through military conquests(Larco 1945)

Shortly before Larco’s death in 1966, EarlyMoche ceramics began to show up in great quantitiesin the far northern valley of Piura, in conjunctionwith the «unsophisticated» Vicús style (Larco 1965,1967). Larco’s interpretations had not predicted thisco-occurrence, and thus it contradicted his ideas. TheVicús phenomenon, within which the Mochicaevidence had been found, contained a strangemélange of ceramic styles, including Virú and Salinar.It seemed possible that the far northern region of Piuracould have been an area of interaction for all northcoast cultural traditions (Makowski 1994). But theMochica-Vicús people were much more complex thanexpected. For instance, their metallurgy wasimpressive when compared to what was then knownof Mochica metallurgy (Jones 1992, 2001). Inaddition, the Moche-Vicús ceramic sequence wasquite different than the one Larco had postulated forthe south (Figure xxx.2). Makowski (1994) hasconvincingly divided this Piura ceramic tradition intothree phases, Early, Middle and Late (Figure xxx.2).Early Moche-Vicus ceramics are of remarkablequality, resembling quite closely the finest EarlyMoche ceramics from the Jequetepeque Valley in themodeling and decoration of the pieces, in colors andsurface treatments (Donnan 2002) (note that inreferring to the ceramic phases and temporal periodsthe term Moche is more commonly used in English-language publications, although Larco called hisphases Mochica). Following these beautiful EarlyMoche-Vicús ceramics, simpler and coarser ceramicsdeveloped in the Middle phases, Makowski’s (1994)Vicús-Tamarindo A & B. Decorated Middle Moche-Vicús ceramics feature one dominant form, longnecked bottles, with small side lugs, decorated withcoarse lines employing purple paint. Iconographicmotifs are reminiscent of Early Moche designs,although created with much lesser quality and care.These quite rare Middle Moche-Vicús wares werenot followed by any Late Moche ceramics—it is asif the style had drifted away, becoming somethingquite different from Moche.

In contrast to the Southern Mochica region, andcontradicting Larco’s sequence, no signs of MocheIII and IV ceramics could be found in Piura followingthe elaborate Early Moche wares. While Larco sawin this ceramic style a probable origin for the

Mochica, Lumbreras (1979) explained this anomalyas a colonial development. The Mochica from thecore valleys of Moche and Chicama had founded asettlement in the far north, certainly for commercialpurposes. The «Vicús abnormality» could not beexplained under Larco’s paradigm of centralizedpolitical organization. To complicate matters, anundetermined number of wealthy burials were foundin Loma Negra, an elite cemetery in the core of theVicús region. Even if we accept that the Mochicascould have established a colony in the distant north,it still made little sense to bury royals, or extremelywealthy individuals, so far away. Why not bring themback to the motherland for burial? In conjunction withthese peculiar burials—regrettably not excavatedarchaeologically—Middle Moche ceramics took anunexplainable turn to low quality and poor decoration.These contradictions could not be resolved with thedata available in the mid 1960s and would have towait almost thirty years to be understood.

A second source of confusion and a newchallenge to Larco’s sequence and thesis ofunification surfaced when Heinrich Ubbelohde-Doering’s 1938 excavations of Mochica burials atPacatnamú were published in 1983. This unique setof Jequetepeque burials contained pottery that wasnothing like the Moche ceramics from the LarcoMuseum that so precisely fit into the five-phasesequence. Not counting a few examples of southernstyle Moche V ceramics found in Burial MXII,Moche ceramics from Pacatnamú were much coarser,with higher than normal frequency of face neck jars.Furthermore, they were found next to unusualnumbers of Virú style ceramics. were generally placedon the necks of vessels, and were not done with finelines, but instead with thick lines. Clearly, Larco’sfive-phase ceramic sequence could not be used todate this collection. Donnan’s excavations of a lowclass cemetery at the same site in the early 1980sproduced a new collection of the same variety ofceramics, thus confirming the existence of a differentsequence (Donnan and McClelland 1997).

The excavations of burials at Sipán(Lambayeque Valley) and La Mina (JequetepequeValley) in the late 1980s produced multiple examplesof Early and Middle Moche ceramics andextraordinary metal jewelry that again challenged thehypothesis of a single origin and a singledevelopmental sequence for the whole Mochicaphenomenon. In both sites the ceramic collectionswere more similar to those found in Loma Negra


(Piura Valley) and Pacatnamú (Jequetepeque Valley)than to ceramics found in the Moche Valley.Furthermore, the burials at these two sites, in additionto the burials at Loma Negra, contained remarkablywealthy individuals, presumably members of royalfamilies that had ruled their valleys. If there wasevidence for royal houses in the three northernvalleys, then the idea of a single, centralizedgovernment based at Moche’s Huaca del Sol-Huacade la Luna site was also questioned (Donnan 1988,1990). It seemed that—at least during Early andMiddle Moche times—royal families or lineages, andtheir corresponding burial grounds, had existed in atleast four locations, each in different valleys.

The last and definitive piece of evidence tochallenge the unified paradigm was found in the late1990s in Donnan’s excavations at Dos Cabezas andother sites in the lower Jequetepeque Valley (Donnan2001). Donnan found burials that includedremarkable Early Moche ceramics and metals, bothof outstanding quality and design, in conjunction withdomestic Virú ceramics. It seemed that Early Mocheand Virú were two expressions of the same culturalphenomenon, one related to the elites and the otherto the general populace (Christopher Donnan, perso-nal communication).

Considering all the evidence, it became clear thatLarco’s five-phase ceramic sequence was not workingin the northern north coastal valleys. There was anotable absence of Moche phases II and IV wares,with no cases of flaring bowls and portrait vesselsreported. Even the phases that appeared to berepresented in the far north, Moche I, III and V,showed remarkable differences from the southernceramics with which the sequence had been built(Castillo 2003). Early Moche ceramics, found inLoma Negra and Dos Cabezas was much morecomplex in the north than in the south, while LateMoche ceramics, found primarily in San José deMoro, showed a reduced iconographic repertoire, andwas accompanied by polychrome wares (Figurexxx.2). In synthesis, ceramic differences are not onlyin form and iconographic content, but also overallquality (Castillo 2000).

Based on the mounting evidence it was obviousthat Larco’s hypothesis of a single Mochica origin, acentralized political organization and a commondevelopmental sequence was untenable. At best,centralized models postulated by Larco (2001), Ford(1949), Willey (1953), Strong (1952) and othersdescribed only part of what might have happened in

the Southern Mochica valleys, but even for this regionold models had to be carefully reexamined. For theSouthern Mochica realm, at this point, it seems moreplausible that there were several origins in differentparts of the Moche and Chicama valleys, harmonizedin their developments by means of elite integratingritual practices. The harmonization effect of a sharedceremonialism could have resulted in the evening outof different speeds of development, homogenizingcultural traits among the ruling elites (ChristopherDonnan, personal communication). Butharmonization did not necessarily produce identicaldevelopments, or even identical material culture.There might have been huge differences in the wayartifacts were produced and in their iconographiccontent that have, so far, gone unnoticed for lack of aproper theoretical framework. It is likely thatthroughout their seven hundred years of existence,the Southern Mochicas experienced periods of moreor less centralization and fragmentation; that at somepoints their centralized political system broke intoregional polities coordinated merely by means of ri-tual practices, centrally celebrated in ceremonialcenters like Moche´s Huaca del Sol-Huaca de la Lunasite. Social, political and economic developments ineach region and locality could have been different,at least during periods of fragmentation. Nevertheless,in the Southern Mochica realm, ceramic sequences,and in general the evolution of all forms of materialculture, follows more closely the model proposed byLarco, particularly during phases III and IV, whenmore centralization seems to have been present.Moche V, the late and decadent phase in Larco’s view,could have been a regional phenomenon of theChicama Valley, that developed there once this valleybroke away from the Southern Mochica core, andthen expanded south to a stronghold in Galindo(Bawden 1977; Lockard 2005) and north to PampaGrande (Shimada 1994).

Considering all the preceding arguments it seemsmore likely that the rise of the Mochicas was a caseof multiple origins, happening in several differentlocations of the north coast, at different moments andmost likely generated by different preconditions. Inall cases the Mochicas appear to have evolved fromtheir ancestors, a post-Formative Period traditionidentified either as Virú or Salinar, first as an elitetradition that branched out from the main culturalcomponent. It seems likely that the general settingfor this diversification within the north coastalsocieties was the extension of agricultural fields due


to better and more reliable irrigation technologies.Eling (1987) places the extension of irrigationsystems in the Jequetepeque Valley in this earlyperiod, and although later societies would have madeirrigation more efficient, the original extension wouldhave created unseen opportunities and wealth. Largerand more advanced irrigation canals would haveproduced higher agricultural yields and thusopportunities for personal enrichment. A new andwealthier elite could easily develop in thisenvironment, creating opportunity and need for so-cial differentiation, as well as a higher dependencyon culturally produced resources. Ceremonialism, theneed for bigger and more elaborate temples, and thedevelopment of more refined ritual objects andparaphernalia all materialized an ideology that neededto emphasize social division and status differentiation(Earle 1987, 1997). The Mochicas developed at thistime, under these opportunities and circumstances.It is likely that at first, during the Early Moche Period,only the upper levels of society could be regarded asMochica, the rest of the population being of the Virúor Gallinazo tradition. But as time passed many ofthe traditions, rituals, and artifacts originallydeveloped for the elites, and surely produced by eli-te craftsmen, trickled down to lower social strata,eventually to influence and shape all aspects ofsociety.

But this process need not have been the same inevery valley or region, nor was it conditioned by thesame factors. It is likely that in some regions theprocess could have been motivated, or evenaccelerated, by the influence of what was going onin neighboring polities. It is also likely, as absolutedates point out, that the process started and ended inthe time span of three centuries. It is not true, either,that all north coast societies had to follow in this sameprocess. Both in the northern Lambayeque Valley(Shimada and Maguiña 1994) and in the Virú Valley(Bennett 1949) the Virú tradition did not take theMochica direction ; quite the contrary. In both placesVirú culture seems to have flourished until theMochicas incorporated them to their territory,arguably by military means (Willey 1953). Finally,the processes that led to the rise of the Mochicas donot seem to have had the effect of articulating allthese regions under a single political authority. It ismore likely that each valley, and even sectors withinthem, followed similar developmental paths, neverachieving political centralization.

The rise of the Mochicas, having transpired in

different places and times, and without centralpolitical coordination, should have led to thedevelopment of completely independent traditions,making each process a case of cultural drift. Thisdiversifying trend seems to have been the case inPiura, where an early Mochica tradition drifted awayto become a cultural development in no wayresembling that of the Mochica from either north orsouth. At the same time the other regions—Lambayeque, Jequetepeque and Moche-Chicama—achieved a high degree of homogeneity, to the pointthat we can identify all of them as Mochica. It is likelythat inter-polity mechanisms existed that preventedcultural drift and differentiation. We are inclined tobelieve that the integration and harmonization factorwas elite rituals of power that incorporated the rulersand their courts to a common, shared tradition, andthat promoted for interactions that included socialexchanges and sharing of materials and technologies.Elites in the three core regions (Lambayeque,Jequetepeque, and Moche-Chicama) must have beenconnected, particularly during the early and latephases when we see the most shared elements.Through these processes the Mochicas developedindependently, but always interconnected andinteracting, sharing knowledge and ritual practice,but facing different challenges and reacting indifferent ways.

POLITICS, POWER, ANDLEGITIMACY IN THE FIRST STATE-LEVEL SOCIETIES OF THE ANDES:

THE SOURCE OF MOCHICA SO-CIAL POWER

As more data become available the nature ofMochica power starts to show more emphasis onideology and on social relations than on coercion,military power, or even economic centralizations ordependencies. Following Mann’s (1986) proposal forthe study of power as the combination of differentsources, it is apparent that for the Mochicas powerwas configured as strategies that combined differentsources depending on circumstances, historicalbackgrounds, traditions and resources. Thus, todiscuss Mochica power is to study the ways in whichdifferent Mochica elites, in different political settingsand times, and under distinct circumstances usedideology, economics, politics and coercion to confi-gure strategies to gain control and legitimize their


Figure 3: Complex polychrome walls in Huaca de la Luna.

social position. Some of the things that we can becertain of are that the Mochicas were an elitist society,thus featuring social contradictions and unequalaccess to resources that were at any given time asource of social turmoil. Continuous anduninterrupted occupations of sites and long-termdevelopmental processes, among other things, attestto the fact that Mochica power, in any of itsconfigurations, was successful for long periods oftime. The collapse(s) of the Mochicas ultimately canbe attributed to the failure of the strategies that hadworked for them, possibly because of bad calculationsof circumstances and capacities, combined withunexpected and foreign factors (see final section).

Given the right circumstances any of the foursources of power could have become preeminent overthe other. Military power must have been critical to

face a foreign threat or to take advantage of theopportunity to conquer a week neighbor. Economicplanning and control of resources must have beendecisive in years of draughts or heavy rains. Politicalinteractions between the elites of different regionsmust have been central in strategies of legitimacy.Marriages among royal houses must have been, atsome points, more effective than military action. Butamong all sources of power the one that seems to bemore permanent, and to which the other sourcesgravitate is ideology and its materializations. TheMochicas invested more resources in constructingand maintaining temples than any other infrastructure,and within these buildings they performed rituals that,according to iconographic evidence andarchaeological data, required the investment ofenormous amounts of resources. The production of


ritual artifacts was one of the most prominentactivities among the Mochicas and in relation to ittechnologies were advanced and commercial relationsestablished. It was under ritual circumstances that warbecame ceremonial battle and taxation became a formof contribution for the wellbeing of society. TheMochica elites themselves became materialexpressions of their ideological system,impersonating the principal deities and supernaturalbeings in ritual performance (Donnan and Castillo1994; Alva 2004).

The Mochicas of the North and theMochicas of the South

Our discussion shows that Mochica politiesoriginated in different valleys of the north coast atapproximately the same time; that each followed adifferent developmental process, materialized inartifacts that changed through time following distinctevolutionary sequences; and that ritual andinteractions between the elites of these polities seemto have made these processes convergent. In the early1990s several researchers arrived at the conclusionthat the Mochica realm could be divided in twodistinct regions, Southern and Northern Mochicas,each one corresponding, most likely, to a differentpolitical entity (Bawden 1994, 2001; Castillo andDonnan 1994; Donnan 1996; Kaulicke 1992;Shimada 1994).

The Southern Mochicas

The Southern Mochica region, originallycomprising the Chicama and Moche valleys, was thelocation for the polity described by Larco (2001),the Virú Valley Project (Willey 1953; Strong andEvans 1952), the Chan Chan Moche Valley Project(Donnan and Mackey 1978), Donnan (1968,1978)and several other projects/researchers. Larco’s five-phase ceramic sequence describes properly theevolution of ceramic wares in this region, and theevolution of other representational systems, includingmural paintings and metals (Larco 1948). The Huacadel Sol-Huaca de la Luna site of Moche has alwaysbeen regarded as the capital of this region, an ideathat remains unchallenged to this day. Recent workin the Huaca de la Luna (Figures xxx,3, xxx.4) andin the urban sector located in between the Huacasdel Sol and la Luna have confirmed the site’s statusnot only as the largest ceremonial center in the south

but also as a residential, production and civic center(Uceda 2001, 2004; Chapdelaine 2002) (Figurexxx.4). The El Brujo Complex and Mocollope, twolarge sites located in the Chicama Valley, could havebeen alternative capitals for their valley (Franco etal. 2001) or could have been regional capitalsdependent on the Huacas of Moche (Larco 2001).

Starting in Moche III, the Southern Mochicasembarked on a southward expansion, incorporatingthe Virú, Chao, Santa and Nepeña valleys. TheMochicas’ aim seems to have been the control of thelower Santa, the only coastal valley that has a year-round reliable water supply. Here, and to a lesserdegree in the other three valleys, the Mochicasdeveloped new lower valley agricultural fields basedon a more efficient use of irrigation technology(Donnan 1968; Wilson 1985). Chapdelaine’s workin El Castillo de Santa and Guadalupito has confirmedthat the Mochicas in Santa were almost identical tothe Mochicas of Moche, at least in their materialculture and in their construction technology (ClaudeChapdelaine, personal communication, 2004). Southof these valleys we find a limited Mochica presence,and of a different nature, more likely functioning asenclaves or commercial posts. In all these regionsthe Mochicas encountered local cultures of the «Virú»tradition, that were gradually incorporated to theMochica realm, but continued with the productionof their own material culture while incorporating anincreasing number of the Mochica cultural elements.

Due to this expansionist process it is likely thatthe Southern Mochicas achieved a high degree ofcentralization and that a powerful state crystallizedat the Huacas of Moche site. It is likely that its Lordshad control of all their territory through anadministration based on a settlement pattern ofsubsidiary valley capitals and local centers, througha tight elite control of the territory and centralizationof its resources. It is evident that in this process,religion and ritual played increasing important roles,with ceremonies such as ritual combats (Bourget2001) and sacrifice of defeated warriors (Bourget2001; graphically illustrated in Donnan 1988:552-553) that emphasized the extreme power of the rulersand their control over their territory.

In spite of the evidence in favor of a centralizedSouthern Mochica state, several incongruenciestarnish the otherwise monolithic hypothesis. Workby Bourget in Huancaco, the apparent Mochica ca-pital of the Virú Valley, has revealed that this site,while sharing many architectural characteristics withthe Huacas of Moche, has little resemblance in terms


of its artifactual components (Bourget 2003).Huancaco ceramics are quite different from ceramicforms and styles present in the Huacas de Moche site,resembling more closely the Early Moche ceramics.It is possible that an independent «Mochicoid»state—that is, a social and political organization thatshared many aspects with standard Mochica culture,but reinterpreted in local terms—existed in the VirúValley prior to the expansion of the Mochicas to thisvalley, or that an independent «Mochica of Virú»polity coexisted with the expansive Mochicas whocontrolled the valley.

The second incongruence is the origin andextension of the Moche V polity. The occupation ofHuaca de la Luna, featuring Moche IV ceramics,seems to extend well into the AD 800s with nooccurrences of Moche V wares on site (Uceda 2004;Chapdelaine 2003). In the meantime, Moche V waresare quite common in Galindo, dating back to AD 700,with little or no occurrences in the 800s (Lockard2005). The distribution of Moche V ceramics appearsto be restricted to the Chicama Valley, where Larcocollected most of the specimens now housed in theLarco Museum; to the site of Galindo on the northbank of the Moche Valley, and to some odd contextsreported in and around the Santa Valley (Donnan1968; Pimentel and Paredes 2003). It is ourimpression that the Moche V polity was restrictedmainly to the Chicama Valley and that it evolved onlyafter the fragmentation of the Southern Mochica intotwo polities (Castillo 2003). Further research in theChicama Valley should prove or falsify thishypothesis.

The Northern Mochicas

The Northern Mochica region comprises threevalley systems: 1) the upper Piura Valley, around theVicús region; 2) the lower Lambayeque Valleysystem, comprising three rivers: La Leche, Reque andZaña; and 3) the lower Jequetepeque Valley system,that includes the Chamán and Jequetepequedrainages. The Piura Valley, as argued above, wasfully part of the Mochica phenomenon only duringits Early Moche, or Early Moche-Vicús phase,developing non-Mochica traditions during the Middleand Late Moche phases. In contrast to all the otherregions, Mochica occupation in Piura is not locatedin a coastal setting with access to maritime resourcesand focused on lower-valley irrigation agriculture,but in a fertile enclave up valley, thus adapted to,and exploiting a quite distinct environment.

The Piura Valley had a brief yet visible Mochicaoccupation centered around the region of Chulucanas,where the Vicús developed. The Mochicas and theVicús seem to have coexisted, as most Mocheceramics were reported coming out of deep shafttombs in conjunction with wares of the Vicús tradition(Makowski 1994). A small funerary mound at LomaNegra contained several rich burials from whichlooters removed a plethora of metal objects, includingcrowns, nose ornaments, bells and adornments forelite garments (Jones 1992, 2001). Although nocontextual information is available, it is clear thatthe Loma Negra burials belonged to royal individuals,analogous in status and identities to those buried atSipán (Alva 1998 inter alia) and La Mina (Narváez1994).

Interpreting the Mochica presence in Piura hasbeen a riddle for quite some time now. Lumbreras(1979) argued that the Mochicas had been acommercial colony in Piura, assuring themselvesaccess to precious Ecuadorian resources such asSpondylus shells and gold. Makowski (1994) arguesin favor of a multiethnic society, a point of encounterof several north coast traditions where the Mochicascoexisted and, apparently, shared their territory withother groups. It is also possible, that the Mochicasfrom Piura were none other than Vicús elites engagingin the same transformation process as the Virú orGallinazo people of Jequetepeque, thus creating anelite material culture, with an iconography and stylehomologous to the one in use at the royal centers ofLambayeque and Jequetepeque. In any case, fromthese auspicious Early Moche origins, whether acolony, a component in a cultural melting pot or anelite culture, the Mochicas from Piura developed intosomething quite different from their southernrelatives. The reasons for this cultural drift are notclear, and in actuality the archaeological record hasnot been analyzed from this standpoint. It is likelythat the Mochica elites from Piura lost or ceasedcontact with the southern polities, or failed to imposetheir cultural cannons, and culturally drifted away.

The Lambayeque and Jequetepeque valleys werethe scenarios for the development of the NorthernMochicas throughout the Early, Middle, and LateMoche phases. Due to their geographic andenvironmental differences, in each valley the processtook on distinct characteristics. In terms ofagricultural land and available water, each one ofthese two valley systems is equivalent to the extensionof several of the Southern Mochica valleys puttogether (Shimada 1999). Consequently, internal or


Figure 4: The temple of Huaca de la Luna and de urban nucleous of the Moche city.

intra-valley interactions are much more influentialthan inter-valley relationships. There is little or noevidence that either of these valleys attempted toovercome the other, or challenge the power of theSouthern Mochicas. Quite the contrary, in terms ofterritory, in both regions the objective seems to havebeen the incorporation of new territories throughlarger and more efficient irrigation systems. In neithercase does the limit of the irrigated area seem to havebeen reached, thus there seems to have been no need

to engage in inter-valley conflicts to extend land hol-dings and gain access to more primary resources(staples).

The Lambayeque Valley system was, duringMiddle Moche times, the seat of the Lord of Sipán(Alva 2001:243) and possibly of other small Mochicakingdoms. During Late Moche its south eastern sidewas the location of Pampa Grande, the presumedcapital of the regional Moche state. Yet ourknowledge of how the Mochicas developed in this


valley is quite incomplete due to lack in field research.Almost all the known Mochica sites in Lambayequeare located on the south side of the valley, on thebanks of the Chancay-Reque River (Sipán, Saltur,Pampa Grande, Santa Rosa) and the Zaña River (Ce-rro Corbacho, Ucupe). The northern section, irrigatedby the La Leche River, seems not to have beenoccupied by the Mochicas, but by local Virú or Ga-llinazo populations (Shimada and Maguiña 1994).Only two sites, Sipán and Pampa Grande, have beenstudied intensively enough to reveal significantaspects of the organizational principles employed bythe Mochicas of Lambayeque. Sipán has shown usunexpected characteristics of Mochica leadership andwealth, particularly the funerary treatment of higherstatus individuals in Mochica society (Alva 2001).What archaeologists see in these burials is an imageof great social and political complexity, with a sizablebody of higher elite consisting of rulers and highofficers of different statuses who were bestowed withthe right to accompany their lords after death. Allwere costumed in the regalia and garments that theyused in life to perform their ritual roles in religiousor civil liturgies. In all cases a special link wasestablished between the individuals and the objectsthat defined their function and ceremonial role that,evidently, continued after death. The officers and their«objects» developed an «inalienable relation,» suchthat these objects, produced for them under specialconditions and times, would not appropriate forothers. Thus, they died with their owners, were buriedwith them, and would still function with them in theafterlife to continue providing for the society of theliving.

Sipán corresponds to the Middle Moche phasein the Lambayeque Valley, a time of probableexpansion and growth. Saltur, the other monumentalcomplex apparently contemporary with Sipán, hasnot been excavated. One possible piece of evidenceis that both Sipán and Saltur were built next to theCollique canal, the intervalley irrigation system thatprovides water to the lower Zaña Valley, to the south.It is likely that the wealth of Sipán was connectedwith the expansion of the agricultural lands afterincorporating the Zaña Valley.

Pampa Grande, one of the largest Mochica sitesanywhere, occupies more than 400 ha at the neck ofthe Chancay River, where the irrigation canals havetheir intakes. The site was laid out and built in a shortperiod of time, and combines an enormous ceremo-nial complex, including Huaca Fortaleza, the tallestceremonial platform in Peru, storage facilities,

specialized workshops, shrines of different sizes andkinds, living quarters and corrals (Shimada 1994). Itis unlikely that the site gradually grew to its actualproportions, but instead it seems to imply apopulation-reduction strategy. People from all overthe Lambayeque Valley appear to have beenconcentrated at Pampa Grande for purposes andreasons that remain uncertain. However, this socialand political experiment lasted only a short period,and by the end of the seventh century the site hadbeen abandoned. Shimada argues that Pampa Gran-de, where «Gallinazoid» ceramics are quite frequent,was developed because the Mochicas forced theGallinazos to live there and work for the Mochicastate, in conditions analogous to slavery (Shimada1994). Social tensions within the site erupted late inthe occupation, when a popular revolt might haveburned the temples and ousted the elites. The biggestparadox about Pampa Grande, nevertheless, is thepreeminence of Moche V ceramics, with identicalforms and decorations as the ceramics from theChicama Valley and Galindo. What were the MocheV doing in Pampa Grande, and why do we have adiscontinuous distribution of this style? Moche V isalmost nonexistent in the Jequetepeque Valley thatlies between Chicama and Pampa Grande.

The Mochica occupation of the JequetepequeValley system has been the subject of intensive andextensive research, making it the one of the bestknown regions of the north coast. Multiple valley-wide surveys have been conducted and excavationshave been carried out in numerous sites. The mostprominent Mochica sites excavated in theJequetepeque Valley are Dos Cabezas, La Mina, andPacatnamú, located close to the ocean; and CerroChepén, Portachuelo de Charcape, San Idelfonso andSan José de Moro, in the interior, northern part ofvalley, corresponding to the Chamán River drainage.Stratigraphic excavations conducted in San José deMoro have produced a ceramic sequence of threephases, Early, Middle and Late Moche, that constitutea tradition quite distinct from the one described byLarco. Only the most elaborate elite ceramicsresemble forms and decorations found in the south,while domestic ceramics show a completely differentassemblage of forms, technique and decorations.Differences between the Jequetepeque and SouthernMochica traditions are most obvious in funerarypractices, where rich chamber burials with niches,middle-range boot shaped shaft tombs, and poor andshallow pit tombs are the typical forms, in contrastto small chamber and pit burials common in the south.


Figure 5: Burial of the Priestess of San Jose de Moro


In spite of these differences the Mochicas fromJequetepeque shared with their southern neighbors acommon religious liturgy, and participated activelyin the core Mochica ceremony, the SacrificeCeremony (Alva and Donnan 1993; Castillo 2000).Elite tombs found in San José de Moro featuredburials of high-status females surrounded by artifactsassociated with the Sacrifice Ceremony, andparticularly to the female role or figure in it, who iscommonly called the Priestess (Donnan and Castillo1994; Figure xxx.5).

The political configuration of the JequetepequeValley describes a development process whereevidence of political centralization competes withevidence for fragmentation and factionalism. A modelof gradual development and decline cannot explainthe evidence, which seems to better suit a model ofpolitical oscillation, where periods of fragmentationwere followed by periods of more centralization totake advantage of opportunities or circumstancesbrought about by the environment or by inter-polityinteractions. In the Early Moche phase a small andcentralized state centered in Dos Cabezas developedon the margins of the Jequetepeque River. By MiddleMoche times population pressure should have forcedthe Mochicas to expand their territory into theadjacent northern and southern deserts. The southernsector, what is now the San José and San Pedrodistricts, was developed though a single andcentralized irrigation system. The northern sector, theChamán drainage, was irrigated by a set of fourirrigation canals that in effect create four independentjurisdictions: Chanfán, Guadalupe, Chepén, andTalambo. It is likely that the expansion of theirrigation system created autonomous regions thateventually became independent polities. Thesepolities seem to have engage in factional competitionand developed hostile relationships that required selfdefense, and thus the construction of defensive sitessuch as Cero Chepén, San Idelfonso, and Ciudadela-Cerro Pampa de Faclo. There are few signs thatpolitical integration was the norm among thesenorthern Jequetepeque polities. Greater and lesserintegration seems to have transpired at certainmoments, taking advantage of opportunities orconfronting needs and threats. Signs of interactioncan be found in San José de Moro, where all thesepolities seem to have participated in regional cere-monial activities, and buried their elites. It needs tobe stressed that in the northern Jequetepeque theprocess of political fragmentation doesn’t appear tobe an effect of a weakened state, unable to prevent

its regions from gaining autonomy, but a consequenceof how the northern valley was developed since thefoundation of its outlying regions. Key tounderstanding the process of political configurationin Jequetepeque is the way the irrigation system wasdeveloped through time, with autonomous andredundant irrigation networks, each one leading towhat seem to have been rather self-sufficient sectorsof the valley. Colonization of the northernJequetepeque, through these irrigation systems, seemsto have been the result of «entrepreneurial» factionsand not a state-sponsored endeavor (Castillo, ms).

THE STRUCTURE OF MOCHICASOCIETY

Mochica social organization has been studiedthrough the analysis of domestic contexts,iconographic representations and burials. All threesources coincide in portraying a complex socialorganization comprising many divisions andsegments, with groups that show a high degree ofspecialization, sexual and gender differentiations,clustering of individuals of similar status, andqualitative differences between social strata. In ge-neral terms three groups can be identified: the rulingelite, the commoners, and the poor. Mochica rulingelites, comprising males, females and children ofroyal lineages, were buried in royal tombs located insmall funerary platforms, generally in chamberburials, surrounded by fine objects of metal, ceramics,semiprecious stones, and multiple retainer burials.Elite burials were not only rich and complex, theyusually included multiple objects loaded withiconographic representations, and ritual paraphernaliaincluding attires and instruments that allowed themto participate in ceremonies and to recreate mythicalnarratives. The burials of Mochica rulers at Sipán,and of Priestesses at San José de Moro are some ofthe most conspicuous examples of Mochica rulingelites. Their household dwellings are usually largeand well fitted adobe constructions with multiplerooms, and can be located inside or in connectionwith temples. Mochica elites are conspicuouslyportrayed in portable and monumental art in leadingroles, as military commanders, receiving offeringsinside roofed structures, or as deities participating inmythical events and ceremonies. Funerary andiconographic evidence coincide in presenting theelites with extremely elaborate costumes, includingnot only fine garments but many precious ornaments:


crowns, feathers, nose ornaments, collars, bracelets,and multiple metal artifacts such as scepters,weapons, banners, and litters.

Below the royal elites was a fairly large socialsegment including individuals who were neither richnor poor: the commoners. This segment representsthe largest number of burials and households studiedand within it we can observe a high degree ofvariability. Their burials are usually contained insidesmall chambers with niches in the southern area, andin boot-shaped shaft tombs in the northern region.These can include multiple ceramics objects, evensome with complex iconographic representations, butfewer metal objects. It seems that Mochicacommoners had access to representations ofceremonies and myths, but could not participate inleading roles in their recreations. These burialsfrequently contain sets of objects related to specificcrafts, for example textile production in the case offemales, or metal work in the case of males. Thereseems to be an intentional representation of thefunctional aspect of their identities at the time ofburial. Commoner households are much smaller thanthe elite ones.

The Mochica poor are the least understood andstudied. Donnan’s and McClelland’s (1997) study ofa fishermen cemetery in Pacatnamú and Bawden’s(1994) excavations of small dwellings in the foothillsof Galindo are examples of the lower class settings.In many cases the poor were treated in ways quitedifferent from other Mochicas. For instance, in SanJosé de Moro, the poor people, particularly womenand children, were disposed of summarily in pitburials, with few or no associations and inconjunction with areas where they had been laboringin the production of chicha (maize beer). Their burialsdo not correspond—either in form, orientation of thebody or disposition of the elements—to the funerarytreatment of elites or commoners. Small children arequite abundant among this kind of burials, as ifchildren had not been conferred with the social sta-tus of their elders and were always treated as poor. InPacatnamú, Donnan (1997) found a cemeterycomposed of 28 males, 27 females and 29 childrenof low status. Although in this cemetery burials weremore organized in terms of position and orientation,and most were even placed inside cane coffins, theirassociations show that relatively, these individualshad a very restricted access to goods and resources.Garments, in many cases, showed excessive wear,reducing them to rags with multiple patches. Lowstatus houses, studied in Galindo and other sites, are

narrow structures, built with stone walls and locatedon hill slopes, with limited access to resources andmany times separated from the rest of the communityby walls. It is likely, though, that these low statushouses are in reality refuge dwellings for thecommunity in case of attacks. Frequent associationsin these houses are storage vessels, water containersand piles of sling stones. It has been argued that theMochica poor could have had closer relations withthe Gallinazo tradition, or that they might even havebeen enslaved Gallinazo people (Shimada 1994). Thisassumption seems to be wrong given the newunderstanding of Gallinazo as the underlying cultu-ral tradition, that is to say that all Mochicas wereGallinazo in their quotidian tradition, something thatwas more apparent among the poor.

Mochica social organization was not onlycomplex but was divided by economic, functional,gender and age divisions. It has been argued that LateMoche was a time of social crisis, with multipleindications of social clashes that resulted in truerevolts, and even the burning and destruction of eliteMochica symbols (Shimada 1994; Bawden 1996;Pillsbury 2001). Although social tension could havebeen worst during Late Moche due to climaticinstabilities, it is quite evident that a society with suchsocial gaps, exclusions, and divisions must alwayshave been rife with social confrontation. Much ofMochica ideology is about legitimizing socialdifferences and establishing roles that, althoughassuring sustenance, gave much to few and little tomost.

COLLAPSES ANDRECONFIGURATIONS OF THE

MOCHICA POLITIES

In congruence with their multiple character,Mochica polities did not collapse all at once or forone single reason, but the collapses (plural) of theMochicas (also plural) are clearly complex processesthat occurred throughout three hundred years and bya combination of factors. The outcomes of these ter-minal processes were reconfigurations of the northcoast societies, first by quite peculiar culturalprocesses, such as that documented in San José deMoro’s Transitional Period (Rucabado and Castillo2003), and ultimately by the establishment of twodistinct regional cultures, Lambayeque, in theNorthern Mochica region, and Chimú, in the SouthernMochica region. The environment (Shimada 1994;


Moseley and Patterson 1992), foreign invasions(Larco 1945; Willey 1953) and internal instabilitiesbrought about by social conflict (Bawden 2001; Cas-tillo 2001; Shimada 1994) are frequently blamed forthe demise of the Mochicas. Close scrutiny makesany of these arguments, by itself, weak andincomplete, particularly those that place the originof change outside the society. Our position is that ifthere has to be a common reason for the demise ofthe Mochica polities it must be the failure of a powerstrategy based predominantly on the manipulationof materialized expressions of ideology. Throughoutthe north coast, Mochica elites had connected theirfates too tightly with the efficacy of ideology, thepower of performance and representation, and theproduction and exchange of ritual objects. For muchof their history this primarily ideologically basedstrategy, that also combined other sources of socialpower (Mann 19xx) had been successful, allowingall Mochicas to grow and prosper. But, starting inthe seventh century AD it clearly did not work anymore. Ideological discourse and materializations inrituals, monuments and artifacts, weakened byenvironmental instability and foreign threats, wereunable to legitimate the structure of society, theunequal distribution of socially produced wealth andthe monopoly that the elites had in the direction ofsociety. The study of Late Moche sites such as Pam-pa Grande (Day 1978; Shimada 1994), Galindo(Bawden 1977; Lockard 2005) or San Idelfoso(Dillehay 2001; Swenson 2004) have produced qui-te differentiated pictures of the last days of theMochicas. What follows is an account of the processas recorded in long-term occupation sites, the Huacasof Moche and San José de Moro, sites that not onlyaccount for the end of the Mochicas, but that placethis process in a continuous occupation.

Excavations at Huaca de la Luna have revealeda peculiar configuration for the end of the Mochicas.Two occupational phases can be distinguished, thefirst one from the foundation to the year AD 600,and the second between AD 600 and 800. The firstphase corresponds to the development and intensiveuse of the Huaca de la Luna, the performance of theSacrifice Ceremony, and multiple transformations ofthe monument. A clear emphasis is given to ritualperformance and enormous resources are invested inthe construction and transformation of the monument.In the urban center, the lower layers of the occupationalso reveal an emphasis on the production andmanipulation of ritual artifacts and on burials ofindividuals costumed as ritual performers. This

emphasis ceased around AD 650 when the Huaca dela Luna was almost closed and the Mochicapopulation turned its attention to Huaca del Sol. Thenew building, produced in relatively little time andfollowing a model of platform and ramp morecommon in the Northern Mochica region, marks aturn and transformation in practices and tradition.Mochica society in this second phase seems orientedto a more secular emphasis, with more attentionplaced on the production of household goods. We donot claim that this second occupational phasecorresponds with a secular state, but that thetendencies towards secularity, more visible later onwith Chimú, make their debut at this time (Uceda2004).

The end of the Mochicas in San José de Moro, aceremonial center and elite cemetery located in thenorthern Jequetepeque Valley, is quite dissimilar. Ittoo implies the abandonment of Mochica traditions,particularly Mochica burial practices and ceramicstyles, and conjecturably, of Mochica rituals that ledto these burials and required these objects. Funerarypractices and ceramics are two cultural featuresclearly associated with the Mochica elites, so theirdemise implied the interruption of their production.San José de Moro had been a regional ceremonialcenter, where elites and populations at large from thewhole Jequetepeque Valley had gatherered for cere-monial events. Great quantities of chicha wereproduced and consumed and when required, buriedwith the dead. The regional integration andcoordination role of the site continued after theMochicas vanished—chicha was still produced therein large quantities, and members of the elites werestill buried there.

The collapse of the Mochicas in San José deMoro, in contrast to the collaspe at Huaca de la Luna,is rather abrupt, even though the site was notabandoned, but was continually occupied during theTransitional Period when the local tradition wasreconfigured. Relatively large quantities of foreignceramics appear associated with local burials duringthe transition, including Wari, Nievería, Atarco,Pativilca, Cajamarca in several phases, andChachapoyas styles. They participated in theformation of a proper Transitional style, a sort of postMoche tradition with many formal characteristics thatcoalesced in Lambayeque and Chimú. Foreignceramics were incorporated in local burials as a smallexternal contribution that, most likely, emphasized apeculiar aspect of an individual’s identity. But withinthe Jequetepeque Valley we can detect many distinct


terminal processes. Wari ceramics, of excellentquality, are found almost only in San José de Moro,while Cerro Chepén exhibits what seems to behighland architecture (Rosas 2005). Other LateMoche sites, like San Idelfonso (Swenson 2004), orPortachuelo de Charcape (Johnson, ms), reveal asituation that seems to be more standard, that is tosay, where the Mochica occupation ceased and thesite was abandoned. These differences seem to be anoutcome of the previously discussed fragmentaryconfiguration of the valley, where each local politywas free to establish alliances and affiliations withlocal or foreign societies, and thus show differentkinds and intensities of affinities in their artifactualcompositions.

If the Mochica were, as Bawden has argued(2001), basically a political ideology, their collapseshould have been the end of the efficacy of Mochicaelite ideas and material expressions of the strategiesof legitimization and control, of idiosyncratic waysof ritual performance, and of particularly Mochicasocial organization. However, in spite of the collapseof Mochica political institutions life continued on thenorth coast after they were gone: their the irrigationsystems continued functioning, as many do today, asdid the technologies they had developed for makingcopper look like gold. Of all things Mochica, religionwas the one thing most dramatically transformed, asprobably it—more than anything else—wasassociated with the way the Mochicas had ruled theland. We do not agree with the idea that the Mochicassimply melted down into the Chimú or theLambayeque, or that we can recognize them in theirheirs. Rather, the Mochicas—as a system, as a wayto control the land and give sense to society, as anexplanation for the universe—collapsed anddisappeared, their leaders failed and vanished, manyof their settlements and temples were emptied andabandoned. The collapse of the Mochicas implies thata reconfiguration was needed to bring order back, toreturn legitimacy and wealth to the north coast ofPeru (Baines and Yoffee 1998). Furthermore, theMochicas are not the Chimú or the Lambayeque. Wecan not study one extrapolating from the other.Finally, societies, both past and present, do collapse.

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