Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Urban-Rural Relations in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru: Deciphering the Ritualization of Power in Moche Political Systems

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Under the direction of Dr. Alan Kolata, Mr. Edward Swenson will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. His research is centered on the late prehistoric period in the Jequetepeque Valley located on the northern coast of Peru. While this region is best known for the Inca civilization which united a large area of western South America under centralized political rule, the Incas were, in fact only the last in a series of kingdoms. A predecessor group, the Moche, achieved a similar result, although on a smaller scale, and their presence in the Jequetepeque Valley is characterized by adobe pyramidal mounds which mark primary and secondary centers, technically sophisticated and artistically exquisite ceramic and metallurgical artifacts and a complex centrally administered agricultural system with irrigation canals. Based on settlement size, it is highly likely that the site of Pacatnamu served as the focus of power and functioned as the central administrative center. Mr. Swenson wishes to understand both the degree of political centralization within the Moche kingdom and the mechanisms employed to integrate its constituent parts. He proposes several alternative models: on one extreme exists the possibility of a direct extension of urban control to the hinterland wherein intermediate or secondary level sites served as administrative outposts to enforce elite urban-based dominance. At the other, it is possible that economically autonomous communities that maintained a significant degree of independence. To assess these alternatives Mr. Swenson will take advantage of the fact that many of these sites are only minimally buried and well preserved. In fact it is possible to trace the walls of structures and determine their size and conformation. Based on their nature and the artifacts they contain, evidence indicates that many served ceremonial and ritual functions and with such data one can compare similarity of form among individual secondary centers and between these and the capital. Greater similarity will indicate a higher degree of unification indicative of greater centralized control. With National Science Foundation support Mr. Swenson will produce digital maps of the 15 to 20 known secondary sites in the valley. The result will be plan views of the sites and three-dimensional architectural models permitting a spatial analysis of ceremonial architecture. Archaeological materials which provide evidence of site function will be collected through both surface collection and limited excavation. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to archaeologists who wish to understand how complex societies arose and were maintained. It will also assist in training a promising young scientist.