One Thousand Years of Regional Integration: Malpaso and the Role of U-Shaped Temples in Long-Distance Exchange

Summary

Located 31 km from the Pacific, Malpaso is the most inland of 8 U-shaped temples in the Lurín Valley. This form of monumental architecture is associated with the Manchay culture that dominated the central coast of Peru during the Initial Period. Malpaso is also one of only a few U-shaped temples located in the chaupiyunga, a climatic zone that serves as an intermediary between the Pacific coast and the Andean highlands. Consequently, Malpaso shows ties not only to the U-shaped temples of the lower Lurín Valley but also to settlements in the highlands of Huarochiri.

The goals of this paper are twofold: first I will examine the way that Malpaso united disparate settlements in the middle Lurín Valley; secondly I will look at how Malpaso integrated the region into a larger valley wide network for exchange. Archaeologists have proposed that U-shaped temples served as civic-ceremonial centers that managed irrigation or controlled small chiefdoms. However I propose that the main role of a U-shaped temple was to serve a space for large rituals that integrated various populations. Moreover, Malpaso also connected the middle Lurín Valley into a large network of exchange allowing it access to resources on the coast and highlands.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Social Complexity in the Central Andean Region: Current Research on the Initial Period and Early Horizon - Part 1

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