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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Moche Marks of Distinction: Time and Politics in Painted Pottery Substyles of the Moche Culture, North Coast, Peru AD 100-900 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2cd9322g Author Cole, Ethan Michael Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Moche Marks of Distinction: Time and Politics in Painted Pottery Substyles of the Moche Culture, North Coast, Peru AD 100-900 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Art History by Ethan Michael Cole 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Moche Marks of Distinction: Time and Politics in Painted Pottery Substyles of the Moche Culture, North Coast, Peru AD 100-900 by Ethan Michael Cole Doctor of Philosophy in Art History University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Cecelia F. Klein, Chair This dissertation proposes, on the basis of an iconographic and stylistic analysis of Moche fineline painted decorations on ceramic vessels from the Moche, Jequetepeque, and Chicama Valleys in north coastal Peru, a new chronology for, and an enhanced understanding of, the political landscape of Moche culture during the Late Moche period (AD 600-900). I, like others before me, see Moche ceramic vessel paintings as manifestations of the dominant ideology of the polities that created them and as belonging to distinct regional artistic substyles. This dissertation reevaluates these paintings through the lens of regional variation. A formal and iconographic comparison of two previously identified substyles, one called the “Huacas de Moche substyle” and other the “San José de Moro substyle,” as well as a new one, which I label the “Late Chicama substyle,” reveals evidence that the Huacas de Moche fineline painting ii tradition preceded that of the Late Chicama tradition and that the Late Chicama substyle came before the San José de Moro tradition. Examination of the roles these substyles played in elite power strategies at each polity indicates that certain major changes took place over time in Moche ideology and political organization. The first chapter reviews previous studies of Moche fineline painting and argues for the use in subsequent chapters of certain theories of style, political economy, and agency in establishing temporal connections between fineline pottery and political change. The second chapter outlines previous models of Moche political organization, from the older single-state hypothesis, in which all Moche sites were subject to a capital established at Huacas de Moche, to the current model of multiple polities, each with its own capital. Chapter Three, which compares the Huacas de Moche and San José de Moro styles of Moche fineline painting, is followed by Chapter Four, in which the Late Chicama fineline painting substyle is compared to the other two. By tracing the development of fineline boat imagery across the three substyles, Chapter Five reveals a temporal progression from the Huacas de Moche substyle to the Late Chicama substyle, followed by the San José de Moro substyle. In Chapter Six, on the basis of these iconographic changes, I argue that the Late Chicama polity grew out of the Huacas de Moche polity and propose that the San José de Moro polity was founded by an elite family responsible for impersonating the so-called Priestess—a possibly mythological figure in Moche art whose real- life correlates, high status human ritual impersonators—have been discovered archaeologically at that site. iii The dissertation of Ethan Michael Cole is approved. John Pohl Steven Nelson Charles S. Stanish Luis Jaime Castillo Butters Cecelia F. Klein, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv DEDICATION For Louis and Julia Cole and Arthur and Miriam Goldbaum v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 1. The Moche and Moche Art ......................................................................................3 2. Moche as a Single State Model and its Legacy .......................................................5 3. Recent Advances in Moche Studies and New Opportunities for Study ..................6 4. Methodology ............................................................................................................7 5. Chapter Breakdown ...............................................................................................10 Chapter 1: Moche Pottery and Politics .............................................................................14 1. Previous Studies of Moche Fineline Paintings ......................................................14 2. Defining Fineline Painting .....................................................................................25 3. The Archaeological Contexts of Moche Fineline Ceramics ..................................26 a. Fineline Decorated Objects in Burial Contexts ........................................ 27 b. Fineline Decorated Objects in Non-Burial Contexts .................................31 4. The Functions of Fineline Decorated Ceramics.....................................................32 5. Production of Fineline Painted Objects .................................................................34 6. The Connection between Art and Politics .............................................................38 a. Style as a Reflection of Political Organization ..........................................38 b. Fine Ceramics and Political Economy .......................................................40 c. Political Agency .........................................................................................44 7. Summary ................................................................................................................46 Chapter 2: Moche Political Organization and Power Strategies ........................................47 1. Previous Perspectives on Moche Chronology and Political Organization ............47 2. Present Perspectives on Moche Political Organization .........................................53 3. Studies of Moche Power Strategies .......................................................................60 4. Methods for Using Fineline Painting Substyles as a Resource for Understanding Moche Political Organizations ......................................................70 5. Summary ................................................................................................................72 Chapter 3: The Huacas de Moche and San José de Moro Fineline Painting Substyles .....74 1. The Sample ............................................................................................................74 2. The Huacas de Moche Tradition ............................................................................75 a. Huacas de Moche Phase III Fineline Decorations .....................................76 b. Huacas de Moche Phase IV Fineline Decorations .....................................77 c. Sites Where Huacas de Moche Phase III Fineline Decorated Pottery Has Been Found .........................................................................................79 d. Sites Where Huacas de Moche Phase IV Fineline Pottery Has Been Found ................................................................................................80 e. Summary of the Huacas de Moche Style ...................................................81 3. The San José de Moro Fineline Painting Substyle.................................................82 a. Sites Where the San José de Moro Fineline Style Pottery Has Been Found .........................................................................................................87 4. Comparing the Huacas de Moche and San José de Moro substyles ......................88 i. Differences in Vessel Form ...........................................................89 vi ii. Differences in Painting Style .........................................................92 iii. Differences in Subject Matter among the Huacas de Moche and San José de Moro Substyles ....................................................95 iv. Results of Comparison ...................................................................99 5. Summary ..............................................................................................................101 Chapter 4: The Late Chicama Fineline Painting Style .....................................................102 1. The Late Chicama Fineline Painting Substyle .....................................................102 2. The Sample of Late Chicama Fineline Painted Ceramics ...................................103 3. Describing the Late Chicama Style......................................................................104 4. The Late Chicama Geometric Fineline Painting Tradition ..................................105 5. The Late Chicama Figurative Painting Tradition ................................................107 6. Sites Where Late Chicama Fineline Painted Pottery Have Been Found .............110 7. Comparing Traditions of Moche Fineline Painting .............................................115 8. Comparing the Late Chicama and Huacas de Moche Fineline Painting Substyles ..............................................................................................................116 a. Late Chicama vs. Huacas