The Role of Social Memory in Everyday Bodily Practices of Pottery Production and Consumption during the Late Moche Period (500 – 800 AD) on the North Coast of Peru

Summary

Often the term ‘social memory’ conjures up ideas of grand commemoration events such as statues, museums, large scale construction and other public displays to remember the collective past. We must not forget, however, the seemingly mundane daily practices that help to create, maintain, and change society while simultaneously forming social identities. This study looks at the Late Moche period (500 – 800 AD) on the North Coast of Peru. It was a time of immense social, religious, and political change caused in part by environmental upheavals and foreign Highland influence. I propose to examine the role that bodily practices, in particular, pottery production and food consumption, have to play in the maintenance of a social past as well as future, particularly during periods of social unrest that characterized the Late Moche Period. The ceremonial centre of Huaca Colorada in the Jequetepeque Valley provides ample evidence for both mundane daily practices, as well as more overtly commemorative and symbolic events of architectural reconstruction. This study will examine their intersection, as well as evidence of continuity and change in pottery production and food consumption that highlights the role of daily practices in the formation of social memory during the Late Moche period.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• New Perspectives on the Archaeology of Social Memory in the Central Andes

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15900