Living Large at Cerro León: A Comparative Look at Living Spaces in the Early Intermediate Period Moche Valley

Summary

The hill slope settlement of Cerro León (AD 1-400) contains all the typical elements of Early Intermediate period residential sites; spaces for cooking, crafting, sleeping and storage. The flow of most daily activity likely occurred between enclosed, roofed kitchens with heavily used hearths and enclosed but sunlit patios for food processing, spinning, weaving, and tool-making. However, some residences at Cerro León stood apart, not only because of their spaciousness and greater number of rooms but also their large dedicated ancestor worship areas and supra-household gathering spaces. Are these houses truly atypical? How do Cerro León’s largest residential compounds compare to other residences at the site or to earlier and later patterns of residence in the Moche valley? Are differences apparent among contemporary dwellings elsewhere in the Moche valley – especially on the coast or in the sierra – where topography was less of a factor in construction? I address these questions and related themes in this paper.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20930