Prehistoric Andean States
Wilson Ch.-9 (Part 1)The Chavín & The Moche
Chavín Wall
The Chavín
Research by Richard Burger (1992)• Physical Environment and Subsistence• Settlement Pattern, Demography, & Social
Organization– Urabarriu phase (~1000-500BC)– Chakinani phase (~500-400BC)– Janabarriu phase (~400-200BC)
• Social stratificiation- elite priests, economic, political and religious power over other sites
• Chiefdom, not state society• Architecture: began during Urabarriu phase
– U-Shaped temple– Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic stone heads– Subterranean galleries and rooms, & a labyrinthine maze
The Chavín
• Political Economy– Gallery of the Offerings
• Burial of a woman and 40 infant teeth• 9 doorways to rectangular rooms• Foreign pottery indicate trade (Spondylus shells- Ecuador)
– Interpretations• Offerings, stored objects for ritual or redistribution?• Air ducts, storage functionality• Center for ritual and worship
• Evidence of trade – Shellfish from the Pacific coast, obsidian from Quispisisa in
the south, pottery vessels from the Casma Valley.• Social Stratification- evident in material culture
The Chavín Art Style• Artisans or craftspeople– Social stratification– Figure 9.12
• Zoomorphized man with a stalk of San Pedro
• The Raimondi stela- depicting the Staff God
• Principal deity of Old Temple: the Lanzón
The Chavín
• Ritual and Leadership– Fusion of coastal and tropical forest elements– Cosmopolitan ideology– Hallucinogenic drugs to transform into mythic
creatures• Figures depict dripping mucous from the nostrils
– Similar to the Yanomamo
– Priestly class and pilgrims
The Chavín
• The Rise and Collapse of the Chavín Cult– Environmentally caused economic
decline– Ideological coping mechanism – Deities appear in the art of the Moche &
Wari cultures• Migration?• See Figure 9.13
– Staff Deity (Bolivia)– Tusked Deity- Lord of Sipán– Chavinoid staff goddess with vagina dentata
The Moche• 1950s emergence of the name for the
“Mochica” (Moche Valley)• “…best candidate for pristine multiv-alley
state formation ..of South America”• Early Intermediate culture- AD 100-750– Moche I- shorter spout w/pronounced lip (-AD
400)– Moche II-similar spout, smaller lip (up to AD
400)– Moche III- flaring spout w/o lip (AD 600-750)– Moche IV- taller, straight-sided no lip.Figure 9.14
The Moche• Physical Environment– North Valley- 30,000 hectares of
irrigable land– South Valley- 15,000 hectares of
irrigable land– Semitropical environment– Fauna: parrots, toucans, pumas, iguanas,
& boas. • Represented in the iconography of pottery
vessels
The Moche
• Mode of production– Agriculture- Andean crops began by 1800B.C.
– Coast crops: maize, roots, and tubers, legumes, fruits, cucurbits and chili peppers and cotton. (Plus seafood)
• Settlement Pattern– Cerro Blanco- primary center’s site (Moche capital
• Huaca del Sol • Huaca de la Luna• personalized columns or walls per each community who
built it• “Fictive reciprocity”• Functions of the Huacas
The Moche
• Mode of Reproduction– 5,000-20,000 people earliest periods– Estimated population= 650,000 people
• Domestic Economy & Social Organization– Wattle-and-daub quincha structures– Two main rooms– Evidence of an artisans class• Specialized craft production found among
states.• Figure 9.17 b
The Moche
Political Economy• Military segmentation for resistance• Moche military expansion & conquest– Huaca Tembladera – Centralized power– Similar personalized marks as in Huasca del Sol– Ruled by Moche administratos and elite– Moche state imposed style of pottery making,
pyramid construction and administrative policies• Iconography depicts collection of tribute and P.O.W.s• Warfare, conquest and coercive control
The Moche• Ritual, Leadership, and State Ideology• Created a powerful ideology, which permeated • P.O.W. were sacrificed and their blood was
handed to priests as offerings.• Religion as means of social control
Lord of Sipán
• Tomb I- largest burial offering of prehispanic vessels ever found
• Copper bells and backflaps- Decapitator deity• Burial included:– Hundreds of pottery vessels– 2 sacrificed llamas– A small child– 5 coffins, one warrior missing a his feet– Women, all secondary burials from elsewhere not
sacrificed there
A Model of Moche State Policy
• Superstructure– Ideology– Ritual/leadership
• Structure– Social organization– Political economy
• Infrastructure– Mode of production– Settlement pattern
