CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE URBANISM \') THE ANCIENT CI'I'IES OF THE PERUVIAN NOR'l'H COAST A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of !-'laster of Arts in Anthropology by Elizabeth Paullada June, 1979 The thesis of Elizabeth Paullada is approved: California State University, Northridge May, 1979 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Section I: Supplementary information to the film: URBANISM The Ancient Cities of the Peruvian North Coast Section II: Script of Film Section III: Bibliography iii ABSTRACT URBAN ISH THE ANCIENT CITIES OF THE PERUVIAN NORTH COAST AN ANCHEOLOGICAL FILM STUDY by Elizabeth Paullada Master of Arts in Anthropology Hay, 1979 This film traces the development of urbanism through time in various archeological sites in the Moche Valley on the North Coast of Peru. The film also attempts to show how ecological factors such as rich marine resources, irrigation, and various patterns of land use contributed to urban development. The film draws heavily on the recent research done by the Chan Chan - Moche Valley Project {1969-1974) directed by Dr. Carol J. Mackey of California State iv University, Northridge, and Dr. Michael E. Moseley of Harvard University. The Moche Valley provides a unique opportunity to present a visual record of the development of urbanism since it contains well-preserved archeological sites from the early hunters and gatherers (10,000 B.C.) to the ancient metropolitan center of Chan Chan, the capital of the Kingdom of Chimor and the center of an empire that stretched over 1,000 kilometers along the desert coast of Peru. In particular, this film focuses on Andean manifes­ tations of certain urban traits such as dense nucleated populations, social stratification, craft specializationr management of labor resources and monumental architec­ ture, and traces their development through each of the major time periods in the Peruvian North Coast chrono­ logical sequence. v SECTION I Supplementary information to the film: URBANISM The Ancient Cities of the Peruvian North Coast 1 2 The Development of Urbanism on the Peruvian North Coast Supplementary information to the film: URBANISM The Ancient Cities of the Peruvian North Coast RATIONALE FOR A FILM ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF URBANISM IN THE MOCHE VALLEY Urbanism as a phenomena has long been of interest to scholars in many fields. In seeking to understand our own cities, we study the cities of the past. Urbanism has had a long and complex tradition in South America. This tradition is most clearly delineated in the Moche Valley on the Peruvian Nofth Coast. Here cities attained a size and importance comparable with the major pre-industrial centers of the Old World. One of the greatest of these early cities was Chan Chan, located in the Moche Valley, near the modern city of Trujillo. Chan Chan was the capital of the Kingdom of Chimor. At its height, Chimor rule extended 1000 kilometers along the desert coast from southernmost Ecuador to central Peru near Lima. This was the largest political body to contest expanding Inca hegemony (Moseley, 1975 c). Chan Chan was the product of a long established pattern of urban residence. From 1969 to 1975, the Chan 3 Chan-Moche Valley Project, under the direction of Dr. Carol J. Mackey of California State University, Northridge, and Dr. Michael E. Moseley of Harvard University, carried out research aimed at providing an understanding of the history and functioning of Chan Chan within the context of its adjacent sustaining communities. The project fur­ ther attempted to trace the antecedents of urbanism and urban-rural relationships back in time and thereby provide a processual study of the development of cities. (Moseley and Mackey, 1973) This film draws heavily on the research of the Chan Chan-Moche Valley project and its makers are deeply in­ debted to all those connected with the project who most graciously aided in the production of the film. As a result of this recent research, we feel that this film can offer new insights into the old and complex problem: the study of urbanism. THE GOAL OF THIS FILM Urbanism as a phenomena has different manifestations in dif~erent parts of the world. It is the Andean traits of urbanism, as seen in the Moche Valley, that will be the focus of this film. Our goal is to trace visually these urban traits as they develop through each of the major time periods in the Peruvian North Coast chronological sequence. Although there are sites as early as 10,000 4 B.C. in the valley (Hunters and Gatherers), our film will begin with the Preceramic and end with the Chimu Empire (Time Line Figure 1) . Certain urban characteristics such as dense nucleated populations, social stratification, craft or occupational specialization, management of labor resources, and monumental architecture will be traced through their developmental phases to their fluorescence in the great metropolitan city of Chan Chan. THE MOCHE VALLEY The modern South American nation of Peru is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the east by the Brazilian jungle. The Andes, running from northwest to southeast, divide Peru into three climactic zones: the desert coast, the highlands, and the tropical forest. The coastal plain is a long narrow flatland, traversed in an east-west direction by Andean outliers and by some forty small rivers (Lanning, 1967). One of these rivers, lo­ cated in the north, is the Rio Moche (Map, Figure 2), and it flows through the Moche Valley. The Moche Valley provides a unique laboratory for the study of urbanism. Since the Peruvian coast is essentially a desert broken up by river oases, preservation is excel­ lent. Thanks in part to the remarkable preservation in 5 Relative chronology Moche Valley Colonial Period Colonial Period 150·) Late Horizon Chimu Inca Late Late Intermediate Period Middle Chimu 1000 Early Middle Horizon v 500 IV Ill Moe he II Early I Intermediate Period A.D. B.C. Gallinazo Salinar 500 ~ Early Horizon 1000 Cupisnique . ... 1500 {Gramalote) Initial Period 2000 ·. ' 2500 (La Cumbre) Preceramlc ~ 15.000 Figure 1 (After Donnan and Mackey) "-· f ' -. 6 this dry area, sites may be examined in a continuous se­ quence from 10,000 B.C. to the present. The Moche Valley is also unique in that it became the center of political power for the surrounding area in at least three (perhaps more) different times in history. Trujillo was the major Spanish administrative center north of Lima. During the Late Intermediate Period, Chan Chan was the capital of the second largest native polity to arise in South America, the Chimu Empire, and during the Early Intermediate Period the Huacas Sol and Luna, because of their unrivaled size, can be inferred to have been the center of an earlier polity (Moseley, 1979). Since the Moche Valley possesses many of the import­ ant sites of the North Coast area, it is an appropriate focus for the study ot" urbanism. ECOLOGY/TECHNOLOGY To be able to analyze the development of urbanism in the Moche Valley, we must understand the geography and ecology of the Peruvian north coast. Lanning (1967} states that much of Peruvian archeology becomes meaningful only when we understand the role of the Pacific Ocean as a source of food and as a controller of climate. The Peru coastal current or Humboldt current c:auses 7 an upswelling of cold water from the ocean depths. The nutrients brought up from the ocean bottom with this cold water become a source of food for a variety of marine life. Consequently, marine resources are extremely abundant along the Peruvian coast, and the abundance of these resources becomes a critical factor in early popu­ lation growth. The cold waters of the Humboldt current are also re­ sponsible for the desert conditions along the coast. These cold ocean waters cool the air mass over them so that evaporation is held to a minimum. As the cool air moves over the land~ it is constantly warmed. The warming, to­ gether with the low temperature gradient, increases the air's capacity to hold its evaporated water, effectively preventing rainfall on the coast and at the same time pro­ viding cool weather in spite of the tropical latitude (Lanning, 1967). Thus the Humboldt current causes an absolutely dry desert condition along the coast which, nevertheless, has a cool and pleasant temperature due to the prevelance of fog. Since the climate remains fairly temperate most of the year, the Peruvian coast is a rather ideal place in which to live with one major problem: the scarcity of water. 8 It has been said that the most dominant factor of the ecology is the desert nature of the coastal region; from Tumbes to north central Chile, the west coast of South America is one of the driest areas on earth. Al­ though the North Coast receives fractionally more rain­ fall than areas to the south, no part of the coast re­ ceives enough rainfall to support more than scattered xerophytic vegetation (Kus, Moseley, et al, 1977). However, across this arid strip of land that is the Peruvian North Coast runs a series of rivers (Map, Figure 2). These rivers carry the run-off from the Andes and provide the desert valleys with a source of water and oases-like conditions wherever the water touches the lande It seems only natural that irrigation agriculture should evolve under such conditions. It is also interest­ ing that a number of the ancient canals are still in use today. It should also be noted that in pre-hispanic times, irrigation systems were larger and embraced more reclaimed land than is now the case (Moseley, 1979).