Moche Valley Ancient Settlement Survey (MVASS): Assessing Archaeological Heritage Destruction and Land-Use in Peru’s Lower Moche Valley

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

"I’m sure it’s all gone by now…", these were the words of Dr. Michael Moseley, director of the Chan Chan-Moche Valley Project (CCMVP) from 1969-1974, in reference to the 420 archaeological sites that were originally registered in the lower portion of the Moche Valley. This statement highlights the need for a comprehensive regional study of archaeological heritage landscapes and land-use in Peru’s Lower Moche Valley. The Moche Valley is unique in terms of the visual intersectionality of past and present landscapes, and the overlapping presence of nearly 2,000 years of urbanism and agricultural intensification represented by the Moche, Chimú, Inca, Spanish colonial, and modern built environments. However, the existence of these various heritage sites, and the knowledge gleaned from them, has been slowly undercut. Globalization, environmental disasters, urbanization, and a push to modernize Peru throughout the 20th century have resulted in today’s contemporary land-use patterns and practices, as well as the destruction of (and damage to) thousands of archaeological sites. As part of the Moche Valley Ancient Settlement Survey (MVASS) project, a selection of CCMVP sites were systematically ground-truthed to assess archaeological heritage destruction on the landscape. This paper presents the preliminary results of research conducted during the summer 2018 field season.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26123