moche politics in the jequetepeque valley moche politics in jequetepeque valley 2 moche politics in...

Moche Politics in the Jequetepeque Valley:A Case for Political Opportunism

Luis Jaime Castillo Butters

Pontificia UniversidadCatólica del Perú

Castillo, Moche Politics in Jequetepeque Valley 2

Moche Politics in the Jequetepeque Valley:A Case for Political Opportunism

Luis Jaime Castillo Butters

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]).

New Perspectiva in the Political Organization of the Moche. Actas del Congreso «Nuevas Perspectivas en la Organización PolíticaMochica» (Lima, 6 al 8 de Agosto del 2004) Luis Jaime Castillo y Jeffrey Quilter, editores. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú,

Dumbarton Oaks y Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera, 2008.

Introduction

The political organization of the northernJequetepeque Valley in the Moche era (ca. 200–800C.E.) does not appear to conform to any of the modelsproposed to date for this society (Fig. 1) (Bawden1996, 2004; Castillo 1999, 2001a, 2004; Castillo andDonnan 1994b; Dillehay 2001; Larco 1945b, 2001;Shimada 1994a; Uceda and Mujica 1998; Willey1953; Wilson 1997). Its principles of organization,relations between territorial units, levels of socialcomplexity, and structures of political power, all ofwhich have been interpreted through archaeologicaldata, indicate neither a centralized state nor a seriesof regional polities, but rather a combination of both.The Jequetepeque Valley appears to have beenfragmented into a number of political territories, eachof which had a high level of political and economicautonomy. Each territory appears to have undergonedifferent evolutionary and developmental processesthat could have resulted in a generalized cultural drift,expressed in different regional material culturalmanifestations. Cultural differentiation seems to havebeen prevented by mechanisms that culturallyharmonized and articulated the entire valley. Thecommunities of the interior valley sectors and theirpopulations appear to have been economically andpolitically independent (Dillehay 2001). In thischapter I will argue that the political and economic

mosaic was sustained by complex and redundantirrigation systems (Eling n.d. [1987]). The divisionof the valley into territorial sectors was both a causeand a consequence of marked factionalism andconfrontations between independent political entities(Castillo 2001a). These independent territorial unitswere manifested in the defensive nature of the mostimportant sites during the Middle and Late MochePeriods (Castillo et al. n.d.; Swenson n.d. [2004]).Nevertheless, while autonomous political unitscoexisted in the Jequetepeque, there was also a highlevel of political integration through rituals celebratedin regional ceremonial centers like San José de Moro.Such integration of independent units would haveoccurred in cycles of centralization, which werecharacterized by the need to confront exterior threatsor to jointly take advantage of opportunities andcircumstances as they arose. As was the case in allMoche political entities, ideology, more than coercionor economics, was the principal factor fostering so-cial cohesion and cultural harmonization. Suchintegration appears to have been indispensable to theviability of the system. It supported economic andsocial interchange, generated social and economicrelations, and promoted positive political interactionsamong communities; in short, it broke tendenciestowards isolation.

3Castillo, Moche Politics in Jequetepeque Valley

Thus, in the archaeological evidence we seecoexisting forces of disintegration, confrontation, andintegration. Specifically, the integrative forces andstructures included the existence of supra-communityMoche identity, coexisting with social stratificationwithin each community. Intra- and inter-regionalmythological and ritual practices, shared funeraryrites (at least among elites), and commontechnologies, including irrigation systems, and theproximity of other Moche communities with state-like political systems are all lines of evidencesupporting an integrative view of the Moche. Thesevarious lines of evidence have made us consider thatit is possible to speak of a Moche state in theJequetepeque Valley, but a state that took a distinctiveform as well as a distinctive range of strategies andvariables in its organization.

In this chapter, I will attempt to reconcilearchaeological data relating to the politicalorganization of the Jequetepeque Valley with atheoretical framework that takes into account thenature of such data. I wish to stress this approximationwhile being fully aware of the risks of falling intosimplistic inductionism, but I have come to theconclusion that we must refine our interpretations ofcurrently-available data to model Moche politicalorganization. The alternative is to force the data intoideal models, which may lead us further away fromthe results of research. This is particularly seriousbecause in the past we have had incomplete viewsthat were too easily adjusted to fit hypotheticalreconstructions. Too frequently we have based ourinterpretations on essentialist thinking where, forinstance, radiometric data have been privileged overother approaches even when they have no clearcoherency.

In essence, I believe that the politicalorganization of the Jequetepeque Valley wasextremely fluid and flexible, at times and undercertain conditions or opportunities reaching highlevels of complexity and centralization, and at othersreturning to a less complex state marked by theconsolidation of smaller, independent regionalpolities. I call this form of social and politicalorganization which exhibits characteristics ofcentralization, while at the same time maintaining ahigh degree of local independence, «OpportunisticStates.»

In Opportunistic States the condition ofstatehood was neither inevitable nor was its naturestable. The political entities of the Northern Moche,like many early states (Feinman and Marcus [eds.]

1998), were not inevitably condemned to a singlepolitical formation, state, or chiefdom, during itsentire history (Quilter 2002), but rather were involvedin a process of experimentation and adaptation. Insum, Moche centralization and the consolidation asstates seem to have been more opportunistic thanstructured organizations. Ideology, religion, andceremony appear to have been the only unifyingforces that brought and held together different socialunits throughout long periods of time allowing theMoche to negotiate and adapt their political and so-cial interactions according to circumstances andnecessities.

Moche Political Organization

The study of Moche political organization,whether in terms of its governance, its politicalcomplexity, or its inter-regional relations, has beendiscussed for almost a century. In order to adequatelyunderstand this long history of investigation we mustreturn to the ideas of Rafael Larco who began thediscussion and established the model that scholarshave dealt with since his time. The current state ofour understanding is the result of problems andweaknesses in Larco’s views that have beenencountered as new evidence has emerged.Recognition of these weaknesses demands morecomplex perspectives and theories.

In 1945 Larco characterized Moche politicalorganization as follows:

The traces of urban and rustic constructions,agricultural expansion, great irrigation works, worksof monumental architecture, and road networks speakeloquently of life organized by means of mature, well-developed methods of government. Furthermore, thepresence of marvelous artistic productionsdemonstrates that the rulers were not solely dedicatedto the realization of grand material works but alsostrongly influenced the dissemination of culture.Moche government—dynastic, theocratic andomnipotent—was forged in the heat of a vigorous,well developed faith producing a civilization whichtoday is the pride of our pre-historic past (Larco1945b: 21–23, translation by the author).

Larco believed that Moche politics focused onan omnipotent and centralized authority that heldpolitical, military, and religious power, which wasimposed on subjects who blindly obeyed out ofconviction or fear. For Larco, power was essentiallyin the hands of government and governors whosecontrol lay in their ability to act upon other


individuals, to impose the law of the state. He didnot give much importance to the nature of Mochepolitical organization, the size and form of theterritory under its control and possible subdivisions,the relative degree of political centralization, and thesocial relations that derived from or contributed topolitical forms. From his perspective, centralizationand the strength of the Moche state was evident in itsmonuments and infrastructure, and particularly in itsrich iconography, without questioning how it cameabout or how it managed to maintain itself.

Now, almost seventy years since the firstpublications by Larco on the Moche, our view of theproblem of political organization raises more preci-se questions. Were they chiefdoms or states? WasMoche a single polity or several? Whether it was oneor several states, what was the degree of politicalcentralization? How was government organized?What were the structures of leadership and ofadministrative systems? What were the relationsbetween power centers and peripheral populations?What was the relationship between Moche politicsand religious ideology?

My vision of the nature of the Moche «state»diverges from the older model formulated in the eraof Uhle (1915), Larco (1945b) and Willey (1953).These investigators, working with relatively littleempirical, contextualized information, createdidealized images of Moche society, particularly inregards to its internal structural organization.According to these models, Moche politicalorganization was a single phenomenon, rather thanplural phenomena with different regionalmanifestations. As such, it evolved through timethrough a single line of successive phases, rather thanmanifesting multiple evolutionary and adaptivetrajectories. That is to say, they viewed it as being asingle Moche state whose development wasstraightforward and whose condition of statehood wasmaintained for centuries until it was displaced byanother state through conquest. Stability and politicalhomogeneity were the result of long-lasting dynasties.The same royal houses and their courts were kept incharge thanks to a powerful military and an efficientreligion that emphasized the legitimacy of the regime.

In this view, the Moche state was conceptualizedin contrast to simpler neighboring chiefdoms, suchas Virú or Recuay. The Moche state provided itscitizens a high level of political, economic, and so-cial centralization. These were expressed in a grandcapital that served at the same time as a political,social, and cultural center. Finally, the Moche state

carried out these practices over a wide territory andpropagated itself through the incorporation of newregions, often through conquest (Donnan n.d. [1968];Proulx 1968, 1982; Willey 1953).

Contrary to this traditional, utopian vision of theMoche state, I believe that a plethora ofarchaeological data speak precisely to the lack ofstability and homogeneity in political formations.Instead of a single, centralized state, different politicalforms coexisted with various degrees of complexity,sometimes as independent polities, sometimessubsumed by others. From a diachronic perspective,political formations never evolve so as to becomeand remain stable. Rather, their histories were aconstant struggle between the factions that comprisedthem; centripetal forces personified by the stateworked against centrifugal forces represented byperipheral communities (Dillehay 2001). Thesestruggles occurred in states of permanent conflictbetween the «haves» and the «have nots,» whereconsensus was replaced by negotiation or outrightconflict.

As such, periods of stability were more theexception than the rule, and centralization appears tohave been more opportunistic than the result of aninherent quality of statehood. Societies consolidatedinto unified entities as a result of the necessity todevelop or implement common strategies perceivedto be of common interest and that required thecombined force of many groups of people. Butcentralization and cohesion were not permanent inlack of mechanisms that could have preventedpolitical fragmentation. This resulted in constantregressions to simpler, less-centralized, forms oforganization, once immediate needs were met ordangers had passed (Feinman and Marcus [eds.]1998).

It might be said that we now have two extremeviews of the origins, structure, and development ofpolitical formations on the North Coast: one clearlyidealistic, which assumes centralization andconsensus, harmony and efficiency (Larco 1945b),and the other catastrophic, which assumesfragmentation and contradiction, animosity andperpetual crisis (Dillehay 2001). Reality, as always,is located at some point between these two extremes.It is possible, however, to suggest conditions ofalternation between these extremes, a swing of thependulum. It is quite possible that the condition ofstatehood, centralized and unified, existed for varyingperiods of time and in specific circumstances, onlyfor political structure to return to a system less


Lam. I. Peruvian north coast and the main Mochica sites (Quilter & Castillo).

integrated as conditions changed.In the case of the Moche the situation is more

complicated than any ideal schema because we arenot discussing a single political entity on the NorthCoast but, rather, various entities, each one in a valley,or even more than one polity within a single valley(Castillo 2001a; Castillo and Donnan 1994a). Thus,while one region or territory may have experienced

a period of centralization, at the same time anothercould have been disintegrating into smaller units,entering a period of intense factionalism (See Quilterand Castillo this volume, Fig. 1).

A true state with all of the powerful centralizationand concentration of power appears to have existedin the south, centered in the Moche and ChicamaValleys (Bawden 1996). With a concomitant high


Lam II. Ceramic sequence of Northern Mochica and Southern Mochica territories (Quilter & Castillo).

degree of social complexity, it is logical to assumethat these populations formed efficient political unitswithin the limitations I have already mentioned(Chapdelaine 2001; Uceda 2001; Uceda and Mujica[eds.] 1994; Uceda and Mujica 1998).

In the Jequetepeque Valley a different patternexisted, one that was decentralized and opportunistic,but not necessarily applicable to the entire NorthernMoche region. In other words, Moche politicalformations were adaptations to the needs andpossibilities of their historical context; they were bothadapted and adaptable, maximizing the capacity forsurvival in a fluctuating environment in which theywere confronted with distinctive, unforeseen, andnew conditions.

It will not be possible to advance ourunderstanding of Moche political organization if we

do not take into account the distinctive characteristicsof each region and consider the historical processesin each of the valleys. It is certain, in my opinion,that we cannot develop a general history orunderstanding of Moche political organizationwithout addressing regional processes in depth.

Despite the limitations of scarce data, somecharacteristics of complex, state-like societies arepresent in the archaeological inventory of the Mocheof Jequetepeque. All indications suggest marked so-cial stratification manifested, in particular, in highlydifferentiated mortuary practices (Castillo andDonnan 1994b; Donnan and McClelland 1997;Ubbelohde-Doering 1983). In some cases it has beenpossible to determine that elite individuals playedimportant roles in the ritual liturgy (Donnan thisvolume) and that they must have based their power


and legitimacy in these personifications (Alva 2004;Alva and Donnan 1993; Castillo 2005; Castillo andRengifo n.d.; Donnan and Castillo 1994). Therequirements for the rituals of this religious elite(costumes, jewelry, paraphernalia, and moreephemeral items) fomented specialized craftproduction creating a true prestige economy, whichwas complemented by the importation of sumptuarygoods such as spondylus, obsidian, ceramics, andsemi-precious stones. This economy of prestige canbe seen in the Early Moche Period in ceramics andmetallurgy (Donnan 2007) and in the Late Period inthe evolution of the fineline ceramic style and Mochepolychrome ceramics (Castillo 2000a).

Elite ritual practices enacted an ideology ofdomination, in relation to society in general. Theysupported elite solidarity and superiority in relationto the rest of the population while, at the same time,broadcasting a message of common identity andtradition for all of the population, rich and poor. Thesemessages were validated by regional rituals involvingshared ancestors that legitimized the political system.

The Territorial and PoliticalDevelopment of the Jequetepeque

Valley

As mentioned at the onset of this paper, duringthe Early Intermediate Period and the Middle Horizonthe Jequetepeque Valley experienced a politicaldevelopment that is not analogous to any of theprocesses found in the other valleys in the NorthCoast, where the establishment of centralized stateshas been postulated as the dominant tendency (Larco2001). In Jequetepeque archaeological evidenceshows signs of two parallel developmental processes.On one hand, processes of centralization, with greatcohesion among the regional polities and sectors thatunited the valley’s populations, with the developmentof sizable infrastructures and the concomitant needsfor organizational capacities. On the other hand,processes of fragmentation and factionalization,where each region/community seems to have isolatedand developed confrontational relationships with theothers. The paradox of this situation is that bothscenarios are apparently contemporaneous, implyingthat they might have happened in short andcontinuous intervals. Communities may have beencentralized under a single leadership to takeadvantage of certain opportunities for collaboration,for instance to participate in regional ceremonial

events, and might have had a high degree ofintegration in certain aspects, for example in watermanagement. At the same time they might haveremained autonomous in most other aspects, such asself defense, control of their own agricultural fieldsand their secondary irrigation systems.

An attempt to reconstruct the valley’s territorialand political configuration might be useful in orderto illustrate how this paradox came about. Insummary, the Jequetepeque Valley seems to havebeen developed in three consecutive stages: first,the consolidation of the central valley; second, theextension into the southern valley; and third, thedevelopment of the northern valley (Figs. 2, 3, and4). The absolute dates and cultural affiliations of thisprocess are still under scrutiny, but a somewhatdetailed image is emerging. The first stage clearlypredates the Moche phenomenon; the second stageseems to be related to Gallinazo and Early Moche,while the third stage is related to the Middle and LateMoche Periods.

The first stage in the development of theJequetepeque was the consolidation of the central orold valley, which consists of three sections: the lower(western), central, and upper (eastern) valley. Evenbefore Early Moche times, settlements in theJequetepeque Valley were concentrated in proximityto the river (Fig. 2). Most of the earliest sites foundby means of archaeological surveys in this regionare Early Moche or Gallinazo, but earlier occupationsdating back to the Formative Period, or even before,are likely (Dillehay et al 2005). It was in this settingthat complex irrigation technology was developed,either independently or as a case of peer polityinteraction (Eling n.d. [1987]; Renfrew and Cherry[eds.] 1986). The old valley, in its three sections, wasirrigated with a fairly simple system consisting ofsets of canals, one serving the northern bank, the otherthe southern. Some of these, like the Faclo and Tolóncanal still are in use, serving approximately the samefields for the last two thousand years. Land in thelower and upper sections of the valley is absolutelyrestricted because it is confined within a narrow anddeep valley. As long as the populations stayed in thissection, their growth was severely limited. It is atthis time that we find the first evidence of attempts atexpansion through the development of the centralsection of the valley, which opens south to the SanPedro region, and north to the Chamán Valley.

The end of the first stage should coincide withthe full consolidation of the central valley and withthe initiation of the first extension, towards the south,


marking the initiation of the second stage (Fig. 3). Itwas at about this time that the Moche emerged,evolving as an elite culture from a Virú or Gallinazosubstratum. It is likely that only one polity controlledthe entire Jequetepeque Valley at the onset of thesecond stage, from a capital/ceremonial center at DosCabezas, and some subordinate settlements up river(Donnan 2001). The degree of development of theEarly Moche is not clear, although wealth and socialdistinctions are quite evident (Narváez 1994). Theyhad the strength to organize and build large ceremo-nial infrastructure, for instance at Dos Cabezas, andhad enough production specialization to obtain theraw materials they needed and to manufacture fromthem exquisite ceramic and metal artifacts (Donnan2007). During this second stage it is likely that the

likely then was mostly arid lands. This section hadtwice as much land with agricultural potential as thesouth, but had little or no water due to irregular flowof its river. The development of the irrigation potentialof these two sectors resulted in different layouts anddistribution of canals, thus influencing settlementpatterns and peculiar configurations of sites.

The development of the southern Jequetepequeduring the second stage of expansion was possiblethrough a centralized irrigation system that startedin Ventanillas and Cerro Pitura, in the neck of theriver valley, branching into secondary and tertiarycanals to cover the entire territory (Fig. 3). Theadministration of such a system must have beencentralized, while social relationships derived fromits administration could have produced heterarchical

Fig. 1 Map of the Jequetepeque Valley including the most important sites for the Moche, Transitional, Lambayeque,and Chimú. Map created by the San José de Moro Archaeological Project.


lower classes were still producing the «Virú» waresthat are characteristic of the North Coast societies ofthat time. Development and growth, especially theincreasing social demands of a growing population,could only be coped with by the expansion ofagricultural lands, but this could not happen ifirrigation systems were not enlarged. The task of thenewly developed Moche was thus the extension ofthe agricultural land, first to the south, andsubsequently to the north of the valley.1

It is likely that vast extensions of land that couldbe irrigated existed south of the valley, in the SanJosé and San Pedro sectors and in other minor sectors.The northern part of the valley, including the ChamánRiver drainage, was clearly underdeveloped, and

forms of organization. Unfortunately, a large portionof the southern valley was apparently destroyed by asevere El Niño event that affected the entire NorthCoast just prior to the end of the Late Moche Period.In consequence, only a few Moche sites have beeninvestigated in the southern part of the valley.However, and with the exception of Huaca Colorada(Fig. 4), until now there has been a notable absenceof large sites belonging to the Middle and Late MochePeriods, particularly fortified regional centers thatwould not have been destroyed even by heavy rains.Recent excavations in Jatanca by Edward Swenson,John Warner, Jorge Chiguala (personalcommunication, 2008) have discovered an impressiveGallinazo ceremonial center, that places the date of

Fig. 2 The first expansion stage in the center of the Jequetepeque Valley. Graphic created by the San José de MoroArchaeological Project.


the extension to this part of the valley in pre-Mochetimes. The southern extension, thus, might have beengoing on earlier than expected and might coincidepartly with the last stages of the consolidation of thecentral valley. It is likely that by Moche times, thesettlement pattern of the southern Jequetepeque wasmade up mostly of medium- and small-scale domesticsites, located in proximity to agricultural fields, thekind of sites that are destroyed by large-scaleagricultural expansion.

The third stage of development coincides withthe Middle and Late Moche Periods and correspondsto the extension to the northern sections ofJequetepeque Valley, primarily irrigating the desertand organizing the new territories (Fig. 4). Thedevelopment of the northern Jequetepeque Valley, and

particularly of the Chamán sector, is quite differentin settlement patterns and in the kinds of sites locatedthere. In contrast to the southern valley, the vastextensions of land that configure the northern valleyshow no significant human presence until MiddleMoche, and necessarily had to be developed throughthe construction of irrigation systems.

In our inspection of the Chamán region, and themountain range located in between this region andthe Jequetepeque River, we have found numeroussites that contain large quantities of Middle Mocheceramics, particularly of the Middle Moche B type(Castillo 2003; Del Carpio 2008). Field data producedby numerous research projects also supports a MiddleMoche origin for most of these sites, or at least forthe oldest sectors within them.2 The establishment of

Fig. 3 The second expansion stage into the southern Jequetepeque Valley, during which time the Moche styleconsolidated. Graphic created by the San José de Moro Archaeological Project.

11Castillo, Moche Politics in Jequetepeque ValleyFig. 06. Irrigation systems in Northern Jequetepeque Valley.

a detailed ceramic chronology has been particularlyimportant for this critical determination, somethingthat has been possible thanks to multipleconcordances of stratigraphic and contextualexcavations (Fig. 5). Middle Moche wares are notablydifferent from Late Moche ceramics in terms ofpredominant forms and decorations (Fig. 6). Theyinclude a large number of face-neck jars with therepresentations of birds, mammals and wrinkledindividuals. A specific type of domestic wares,including ollas and containers, features a peculiardouble incurving neck with a small protruding lip(Donnan and Cock [eds.] 1997; Del Carpio 2008;Ubbelohde-Doering 1983). In Late Moche the typicalforms are quite distinct (Fig. 7), with the dominantform being the face-neck jar locally called «Rey de

Assiria» (Ubbelohde-Doering 1966) and a cruderepresentation of a llama face. Owls, the single mostcommon face-neck impressed design in MiddleMoche, are absent from Late Moche collections.Finally, an unmistakably diagnostic Late Moche formis the «platform» rim olla (Donnan and Cock [eds.]1986). This form is found only in Late Moche B phasecontexts and layers, that is to say, mid-way into thedevelopment of the period (Castillo 2000a). Insummary, the precise dating of sites in this region isbased on a very refined ceramic sequence, and in theabsence or presence of specific and highly-diagnosticwares. The sequence has been constructed with burialassociations and with detailed and repetitivestratigraphic associations found both at Pacatnamúand San José de Moro.

Fig. 4 The third expansion stage into the northern part of the Jequetepeque Valley. Graphic created by the San José deMoro Archaeological Project.


The Middle Moche date for the extension of theMoche realm to the northern part of the Jequetepequeis based on the oldest occupations of sites, and noton a direct attempt to date the irrigation canals. Thismethod of indirect dating, based on the sites that arelocated in the extremes of irrigation systems, and thesites that were presumably served by them, wasemployed by Eling (n.d. [1987]) to reconstruct theextension of the irrigation system. However, he couldnot define the precise occupational affiliation for eachsite in his study because he did not have a reliableceramic sequence. The one available, Larco’s fivephase sequence, would have produced moreconfusion than clarity. Even though earlier sites might

have been present in the region, these would havecorresponded to seasonal occupations, when smallnumbers of peasants would have taken advantage ofoccasional water in the Chamán River. Only a reliablesupply of water would have permitted the establish-ment of permanent settlements in this region, and sucha supply was not developed until Middle Moche.

Redundant Irrigation Systems andPolitical Organization

Irrigation of the northern Jequetepeque wasbased on canals that originated at intakes located inthe middle Jequetepeque Valley, between the sites of

Fig. 5 Chronological sequence for the Jequetepeque Valley with representative examples of ceramics related to theperiods and phases of the occupational history of San José de Moro. Graphic created by the San José de Moro

Archaeological Project.


Ventanillas and La Punta, where the Chimú site ofTalambo was later established. From these intakes,water was transported to the different sectors of thenorthern Jequetepeque and the Chamán drainage. Onepeculiarity of this irrigation system is that, in contrastto its southern counterpart, it was not composed of asingle, large main canal, but of four independentcanals, each one featuring an independent intake.Through these canals, water was transported to themodern circumscriptions of Farfán and Chafán(Chafán canal), Guadalupe, Pacanga, and PuebloNuevo (Guadalupe canal), Chepén (Chepén canal)and to the northern part of the Chamán Valley,including San José de Moro and part of Pacanga(Talambo canal). Because they crossed the ChamánRiver, some of these canals would have requiredelevated sections, locally called «mampuestos.»

Four independent canals could have been theoutcome of four successive expansion phases of the

irrigation system and the incorporation of new andmore distant territories. It is likely that the MiddleMoche did not attempt to irrigate the entire Chamándrainage as one large land reclamation project, butthat instead the process involved at least four phasesof extension, made possible by adding a new canaleach time. Each canal had its origin in an independentintake in the Jequetepeque River, which overcrowdedthe first few kilometers of the four canals where theywere located almost one next to the other (Fig. 8)

It is also peculiar that the territories that wereirrigated with each canal still correspond roughly tothe modern districts in which the northernJequetepeque is organized today: Guadalupe, Pue-blo Nuevo, Chepén, and Pacanga. These moderndistricts are the same jurisdictions that wereestablished early in Colonial times on the basis ofthe four large settlements and partitions of the valley(Martínez Compañón 1978–91 [1782–88]). The

Fig. 6 Middle Moche ceramics collection from San José de Moro. Photograph by the San José de MoroArchaeological Project.


Fig. 7 Late Moche stirrup spout bottles decorated with fineline designs from San José de Moro. Photograph by theSan José de Moro Archaeological Project.


Jequetepeque Valley, in contrast to many otherPeruvian coastal valleys, lacks a clearly-defined ca-pital, since it includes two provinces: Pacasmayo, andChepén, and two provincial capitals: the cities of SanPedro in the south and Chepén in the north. This non-centralized pattern, quite un-Peruvian, might havebeen an outcome of the Pre-Hispanic organization ofthe valley.

The concurrent use of four independent canalsmight have had some obvious disadvantages andadvantages for the Moche. Each canal required con-trol, maintenance, and yearly «cleaning,» whichwould have been extremely inefficient and costly.Multiple canals increase the effect of evaporation andwater lost to infiltration. They may also imply thecreation of four different bodies of regulation for thedistribution of water. The advantages of havingindependent canal systems would be that if one ca-nal was damaged the others would still be functional,allowing the populations of the valley to at least pro-duce resources in the areas watered by them.However, in the context of a factionalized andconfrontational political map, the destruction of onecanal would imply the inability to irrigate an entiresector corresponding to an independent polity. Trueredundancy would imply that each region had morethan one canal to insure its water supply, so that ifone of them was damaged, the others would havecome into use for each specific region-polity.

The nature of this redundant irrigation system,particularly when contrasted to the centralized natureof the southern system, is quite intriguing. It seemsto me, and in this I agree with Eling, that irrigationof the northern Jequetepeque corresponds to a highlyindependent political configuration. Eling argues infavor of independent political bodies arising fromindependent canals. In his view «the parameters ofthe area under rule were probably determined by thecanal system, that is, the people along a system wereunited by both a common water source and a commonruler» (Eling n.d. [1987]: 455). The organization ofthe irrigation system into independent canals couldhave been the effect of the coexistence of a series ofindependent autonomous polities in the JequetepequeValley. However, I do not agree with Eling in thecategorization of the units that integrated theJequetepeque as chiefdoms, as I would not agreeeither with their labeling as permanent andconsolidated states. It seems to me that in spite oftheir independence, all of them belonged to a largerbody: the northern Jequetepeque Moche Polity thatcould be better seen as a confederation of more-or-

less independent Moche polities that configured, attimes, an opportunistic state. Eling argues thatcomplex irrigation does not imply necessarily theexistence of a traditional state organization (Elingn.d. [1987]: 461), and his idea might be corroboratedby the fact that a centralized irrigation system wasnot developed in the northern Jequetepeque until the1970s, when the state-sponsored Gallito CiegoIrrigation Project was put in place. It is likely thatrights and regulations over land and water, andpolitical divisions set forth at the time of origin, inMiddle Moche when the canals were built, configuredinteractions and relationships that are still in placetoday.

Settlement Patterns and PoliticalDivisions

The second line of information that corroboratesthe assumption that the northern Jequetepeque valleywas politically fragmented through much of itsMoche occupation is the location and configurationof Middle and Late Moche sites (Fig. 4). This subjecthas been investigated by several researchers andrequires consideration of at least two different issues:the way in which time is represented in materialculture and the location of sites in the valley. Toaddress the issue of time, it is indispensable to defi-ne the chronological affiliation of the sites, andultimately the chronology of the valley reflected inits material culture. The location of the sites is indis-pensable to understanding the extension andexpansion of the Moche in this region. Both issues,building a chronology, and finding and dating sites,have been complex processes (Fig. 5) (Castillo 2001a;Dillehay 2001; Hecker and Hecker 1987, 1990;Donnan and Cock [eds.] 1986, 1997).

Most of the large sites corresponding to theMiddle and Late Moche Periods have in commonthe fact that they were heavily protected by wallsand parapets, that they were built in isolated andinaccessible areas of the valley, either on mountaintops (for example, Cerro Chepén), or in isolatedregions facing the desert (for example, Portachuelode Charcape or San Ildefonso) (Fig. 9) (Dillehay2001; Swenson n.d. [2004]). These locations are notclose to the agricultural fields, where most of thepopulation had to live and work, and many timespresent the added problem of not having easy accessto water nor to any other primary resources. Insidethese sites, in the platforms and rooms that compose


most of their visible architecture, we find unusualnumbers of large ceramic containers, most likely usedto store water and food, but not much other evidenceof domestic life.

The second characteristic of most of these sitesis their defensive nature. They were built as fortressesor strongholds, as in the case of San Ildefonso orCerro Chepén, surrounded by several lines of walls.On top of these walls we still find concentrations ofpebbles that were used as ammunition for slings(Dillehay 2001). Based on this evidence it seems plau-sible that these sites were not residential, but rathertemporary refuges, where people could find shelterin case of attack. Furthermore, it is my impressionthat some of these sites could have functioned assecondary settlements working in conjunction withreal residential settlements located closer to theagricultural fields and resources. This seems to bethe case of both San Ildefonso and Charcape, wherethe defensive settlement had a typical domesticsettlement nearby. In both cases, regrettably, the

residential site has been severely affected by theextension of agricultural fields.

In some of these sites Swenson (n.d. [2004]) hasreported the existence of specialized ceremonialcomponents. Structures composed of a peculiarcombination of adjacent platforms connected byascending ramps, containing a small number ofdecorated ceramics, exist in Cerro Chepén, SanIldefonso, Charcape, and Cerro Catalina (Figs. 9 and10). Swenson argues that these structures might havebeen temples, albeit of a small scale, and that theexistence of these components can be interpreted asattempts by the residents of these sites to acquireindependence in the realm of ceremony and liturgyby replicating religious facilities inside theirindependent settings. Swenson’s reconstruction of thefragmentary and independent nature of the religiousinfrastructure is concordant with the notion presentedhere that the existence of defensive sites demonstratesthe fragmentary character of the political organizationof the northern Jequetepeque.

Fig. 8 View of the Jequetepeque Valley at the location of the intakes of the canals. Photograph by the San José deMoro Archaeological Project.


Defensive features such as parallel lines ofdefensive walls and parapets, although great forpower display, imply a readiness to withstand attack.If the Moche of each one of these communitiesinvested so many resources in their defense, it is pro-bable that they had to face strong military or violentthreats. But, who were they defending themselvesagainst? At this point there is no evidence of a foreignthreat coming from the Southern Moche, the Wari,or from the Cajamarca in the highlands. For instance,there is no evidence of foreign control of the sitesmanifested in a high quantity of foreign goods. Thus,the only plausible foes were the Moche themselves,that is, Moche from other independent communitiesin the valley. Whether these attacks wereeconomically-motivated raids to pillage the resourcesof neighboring communities, or ceremonial warsaimed at capturing prisoners for human sacrifice

ceremonies (which are rare in the archaeological re-cord of ceremonial centers in Jequetepeque), theymust have been so constant and costly that theyrequired massive investments of labor and resourcesin the construction of heavily-walled sites. Thedefensive features seem to point to the fact that theMoche in Jequetepeque were not only divided intoindependent polities, but that a high state offactionalism and confrontation had arisen amongthem. The high walls that concentrated the storageof staples, the location of the fortress-like sites, andthe evidence of weaponry configure a state ofpermanent aggression or endemic warfare among theMoche polities of the Jequetepeque. In order to assesswhen and why this state of confrontation developed,it is critical to determine at what point the Mochestarted fighting against each other, and whether warwas a permanent state or only a circumstantial and

Fig. 9 Late Moche sites with evidence of ritual functions (Cerro Chepén and San Ildefonso). Photographs by the SanJosé de Moro Archaeological Project.


occasional development. In order to understand the nature of the Moche

political system in the Jequetepeque the critical issueis to define when the Moche expansion towards theChamán drainage happened, and if the expansioncoincided with the process of factionalization. BothDillehay (2001) and Swenson (n.d. [2004]) place theexpansion process in the Late Moche Period. Theirassessment is based on radiocarbon dates and on theiridentification of ceramic components of the sites aspertaining to Late Moche times. They conclude thatthe expansion of the Moche towards the desert areasof the valley and the process of politicalfactionalization are late phenomena, even going asfar as to contrast the extension of the northernJequetepeque with the territorial contraction thatsupposedly was occurring in the Lambayeque andMoche Valleys at the same time. Moche sites therewere moved up valley, to Pampa Grande and Galindo,close to the intakes of irrigation systems in order toassure control of water. My understanding of theprocess is somewhat different, but the difference iscritical to understanding the entire developmentprocess in the northern Jequetepeque. Ceramicsassociated with most of the sites involved in thisexpansion, or in their older sectors, match the ceramicstyles that are associated with the deeper levels ofoccupation at San José de Moro, dating thedevelopment of these sites instead to the MiddleMoche Period (Fig. 6).3

A Middle Moche date for the defensivesettlement would indicate that the fragmentation andfactionalization process coincided with the expansionof the Moche into the Chamán drainage, and not withits Late Moche development. The fragmentation ofthe valley into small, independent regional polities,thus, would not have been a consequence of theweakening of a Moche centralized state that wasunable to prevent the peripheral sites from gainingindependence, from achieving total politicalautonomy, and from assuming their own line ofdefense against competing Moche polities (Dillehay2001). It seems that the peculiar way in which theirrigation systems were built sprang out of, and laterreinforced, the creation of autonomous politicalsystems. We have, in reality, very limited evidenceto support the idea that the Moche of the northernJequetepeque ever constituted a unified andcentralized state. The Moche expansion into theChamán drainage was not the extension of acentralized state, as were the extensions of centralizedempires such as the Inca, but instead it was more

likely a process analogous to the extension of theGreek city states into their colonies in southern Italy.Moche polities in the Jequetepeque seem to haveshared the same traits that ancient Greek metropolisesand colonies shared—religion, culture, andrecognition of a shared ancestry—while at the sametime they maintained political and economicindependence.

The development of both the irrigation systemsand the sites that correspond to the irrigation canalsseems to point in the direction of successiveexpansion phases. Each phase, in turn, implies thecreation of an intake in the Jequetepeque River, anirrigation network of canals and fields, and thedevelopment of residential settlements. Although thisexpansion process could have been the action of acentralized entity, it could also have been the resultof independent segments of society. As Susan E.Ramírez has documented (personal communication,2005), when a community grew beyond its carryingcapacity the local curaca would commission one ofhis sons to develop new lands and take part of thecommunity to the new territories. The new settlementand agricultural lands could then be integrated intothe original community or they could develop intoan independent community. A similar scenario mightexplain the Moche development of the redundantirrigation systems in the northern Jequetepeque.

In this scenario, the Chafán canal would havebeen built first, incorporating the agricultural fieldsof the Farfán area, followed by the construction ofthe Guadalupe canal that extended irrigation beyondthe Jequetepeque Valley and into the southwesternend of the Chamán Valley. The third irrigationprogram, the Chepén canal, would have incorporatedthe southeastern sector of the Chamán Valley aroundthe Cerro Chepén Mountains. At this point the barrierfor all further developments seems to have been theChamán River and its deep water channel. Bridgingthis natural barrier required the development of analternative technology because it is likely that, eventhen, the river was deeper than the surrounding land.Alternatively the Moche could have used the ChamánRiver as the main irrigation canal or they could havebuilt mampuestos to cross the river and irrigate theland north of the Chamán. The last phase of expansionseems to have been the incorporation of the northernChamán Valley, through the extension of both theGuadalupe and Chepén canals into the Pueblo Nue-vo and Pacanga sectors, and the addition of the new,even higher Talambo canal that irrigated thenortheastern sector of the Chamán River. The


Talambo canal is still a mystery in terms of itschronological affiliation and nature. Eling (n.d.[1987]) was not sure if it was developed by the Mocheor by a later society. On the other hand, this canal isthe most likely candidate for an inter-valley,Jequetepeque-Zaña irrigation program

Conclusions: Reconstructing the MocheState of the Jequetepeque Valley, a Casefor Opportunistic Political Organization

The political organization of the JequetepequeValley describes a developmental process thatchanged from centralized to fragmentary. In the EarlyMoche Phase a small and centralized state centeredin Dos Cabezas developed in the margins of theJequetepeque River. By the Middle Moche Period,population pressure probably forced the Moche toexpand their territory into the adjacent northern andsouthern deserts. The southern sector—now the SanJosé and San Pedro districts—was developed thougha single, centralized irrigation system. The northernsector—the Chamán drainage—was irrigated by apeculiar set of four irrigation canals that, as arguedabove, could correspond to four independentjurisdictions: Farfán, Guadalupe, Chepén, andTalambo. Several large defensive sites correspond tothese canals. It is likely that the expansion of theirrigation system created autonomous regions thateventually became independent polities. Thesepolities seem to have engaged in factional competitionand developed hostile relationships that required self-defense, and thus the construction of defensive sites

such as Cero Chepén, San Idelfonso, and Cerro Ca-talina (Fig. 10). There are not many signs that politicalintegration was the norm among these northernJequetepeque polities. However, more or lessintegration seems to have occurred at certain momentsin order to take advantage of opportunities or toconfront needs or threats. Signs of interaction can befound in San José de Moro where all these politiesseem to have participated in regional ceremonialactivities and buried their elites. It must be stressedthat in the northern Jequetepeque the process ofpolitical fragmentation seems not to have been aneffect of a weakened state unable to prevent its regionsfrom gaining autonomy, but rather a foundationaleffect. Key to understanding the process of politicalconfiguration in Jequetepeque is the way theirrigation system was created, with autonomous andredundant components. Colonization of the northernJequetepeque seems to have been the result ofentrepreneurial agents and not a state-sponsored,centralized endeavor.

At this point in the reconstruction of the politicalconfiguration of the northern Jequetepeque it isimportant to consider the effects that such afragmentation process could have had. If completelyisolated, the regional polities should have begun aprocess of cultural drift that would have led to thecreation of completely different identities. But asmentioned above with respect to the harmonizationfactor in the multi-valley origins of the Moche, I thinkthat a strong cultural mechanism must have existedto prevent cultural divergence. Furthermore, smalland isolated communities are only autarchic inappearance. The exchange of goods and participation

Fig. 10 Fortified Moche sites in the Jequetepeque Valley (Cerro Chepén, San Ildefonso, Portachuelo de Charcape, andSanta Catalina). Photographs by the San José de Moro Archaeological Project.


Fig. 11 A funerary ceremony depicted on a Late Moche stirrup spout bottle. Photograph by the San José de MoroArchaeological Project; drawing by Donna McClelland.

in a complementary economy are almost unavoidableamong these communities. One of the biggest dangersof isolation happens at the genetic level. It is likelythat these communities recognized the importanceof limiting inbreeding in order to renew their geneticpools and to prevent disease. To attain this they hadto participate in social interaction so that local youthcould have the opportunity to find marriage partnersamong young people of different communities.

In all of these cases, it seems that there wasalways a great need to integrate the region and tocreate opportunities for social interaction. The regio-nal ceremonial center of San José de Moro mighthave provided all of the communities in the regionwith such services. The role of ceremonial centerswould have been, first and foremost, to createopportunities for social interaction.

A second role that these centers played must havebeen geared toward the ruling elites, who wereexposed to the Moche tradition in these settings andto the ritual activities that were celebrated there (Fig.11). The participation of the elites in ritual combat,in sacrifice and presentation ceremonies, and in publicperformances of mythical narratives sharedthroughout the North Coast must have been vital totheir integration into the Moche tradition and wouldhave produced a homogenization effect visible inmuch of the elite material culture. Ultimately, theprimary role of dominant ideologies is not to

dominate, but to articulate and integrate, to give asense of community to the dominators (Abercrombieet al. 1980).

In sum, there is evidence of both strongcooperation and association among the territories andsectors that compose the Jequetepeque Valley. Cere-monial activities seem to have been shared by all unitsin the valley, particularly among the elites that wereburied at San José de Moro. A shared ceremonialtradition would have provided them withopportunities for social integration, economicinteraction, and political coordination that were notavailable at the local level. Under certaincircumstances, for instance, if the valley wasthreatened by an external enemy the local politiescould have articulated a common defensive strategy.It is likely that the same settings and organizationsthat served to structure ceremonial life were alsouseful in organizing the region to face threats or totake advantage of opportunities. In any event, someform of regional organization must have existed;otherwise the Moche polities of the Jequetepequewould have been a fairly weak adversary for thepowerful Southern Moche.

The evidence presented here indicates that, inthe Jequetepeque Valley during the Moche era, a par-ticular form of political development existed that canbe best understood as an Opportunistic State. Thisform of complex, yet unstable, political organization


meant that under certain circumstances, in someoccasions for collaboration, and in carrying out ofcertain duties, true political integration andcentralization was achieved, albeit of short durationand only to seize opportunities for mutual benefit.In the absence of such opportunities or circumstances,or in times when such conditions did not arise, thepolitical organization of the valley likely remainedfragmented; unstable, conflictive relations likelydeveloped among the local political units. The keyto coexisting state formation and fragmentation andregional independence is the unusual emphasis onceremonial activities that were celebrated around re-gional centers such as San José de Moro. These ce-remonial practices were the cement that bonded allthe sectors of the valley. In combination with thesepractices, strategies also developed for domination,resistance, and negotiation. As a last resort, politicalpower would have derived from the ideologicalprestige that came from the manipulation of acomplex ideology, which was manifest in ritualobjects and ceremonies on the regional level.Likewise, the uniting pressures of religious ideologyalso would have thwarted movements towardindependence present in ideologies of resistance. Theconcept of negotiation, in which different sidesnegotiate their interests in order to diminish the costof opposition and to maximize benefit, seems to havebeen intrinsic to political control within a highlyfragmented political scene. The Moche state of theJequetepeque Valley manifests a political formationthat existed in some circumstances, for example,during the celebration of regional rituals, in combatagainst a common enemy, and in the maintenance ofa large irrigation canal. This political unificationwould also have existed in order to complete someduties that went beyond the local sphere, such as dis-pute resolution or the negotiation of water rights.When these opportunities, circumstances, andfunctions were not present, the political formationseems to have returned to its fractioned state, in whichindividual interests of the sectors took priority, eachcommunity maintained its own territory andbelongings out of the reach of other communities,and the role of the state was very restricted. Finally,the elites played an important role in integration. Theycertainly remained in near constant contact, as theywould have been incorporated into networks of ri-tual practices and connected by the interregionalsphere of the Moche religion. This complex systemof power, based in the manipulation of symbols andin the participation in rituals, seems to have been

activated seasonally in ceremonies that would havetaken place in sites such as San José de Moro.

Notes

1 Studying the irrigation systems of a valley as large as theJequetepeque is a daunting task. Fortunately, the systemwas examined in great detail in the 1980s by Herbert Eling,then a doctoral student in the University of Texas, Austin.Eling´s (n.d. [1987]) study of the irrigation networks inthe Jequetepeque is a fundamental source of informationand insight in the role that irrigation had in the definitionof the characteristics of the Jequetepeque Valley. Eventhough his research focused on the later periods, and noton the origins of the irrigation system, his data andinterpretations can be adapted in light of the research donein the last 20 years. According to his study most of theirrigation systems were already in place and working byhis Period 1 (Pre- A.D. 500), roughly corresponding tothe Early and Middle Moche phases.2 This region is fairly well known thanks to surveys doneby Wolfang Hecker and Gisela Hecker (1987), TomDillehay and Alan Kolata (Dillehay 2001), and the SanJosé de Moro Archaeological Project. Several of the mostimportant sites within it were recently excavated byEdward Swenson (n.d. [2004]), Ilana Johnson (2008), andPatrick Scott. Particularly relevant for the study of thisregion are Marco Rosas’ mapping and excavations at Ce-rro Chepén (Rosas n.d.). Finally, the site of San José deMoro has been studied continuously for 18 years, and hasproduced relevant information allowing us to reconstructceremonial practices, funerary traditions and a complexoccupational history applicable to the entire northernJequetepeque Valley (Castillo et al. n.d.).3 In the northern Jequetepeque the most diagnosticelements to differentiate Middle from Late Moche is thecontrast between press molded face-neck jars and platformrim ollas. The first type is the quintessential Middle Mocheform, present not only at San José de Moro but in MiddleMoche burials in Pacatnamú (Ubbelohde-Doering 1983;Donnan and McClelland 1997). Meanwhile, Late Mocheis associated with a peculiar form of olla which has apronounced platform parallel to the rim. This form,identified by Donnan in Pacatnamú (Donnan and Cock[eds.] 1986), is so diagnostic that no examples of it areknown from any Middle Moche context, nor does it lastinto the Transitional period (Castillo et al. n.d.).

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