Becoming Moche in Huanchaco: the impact of Moche Politics, Economy and Religion in the Fishermen Households at Pampa la Cruz, AD 500-650

Summary

This is an abstract from the "From Households to Empires: Papers Presented in Honor of Bradley J. Parker" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The archaeological research at Pampa la Cruz, a residential fishing settlement occupied between 350 cal. BC and 650 cal AD and located on the shoreline at the mouth of the Moche valley, is providing new insights on the impact made by Moche political organization at the household level. The investigations are revealing the impact of the material culture produced by specialists at the site of Moche as well as the effect of that material culture on the private lives of the fishermen residents at Pampa la Cruz. Current evidence suggest that domestic rituals changed from the intimacy of fishermen families to incorporate new rituals using Moche-like paraphernalia. On the other hand, there seems to be a more restricted capacity of the households to accumulate surplus based on a comparison of storage facilities during the Moche presence of the site and previous occupations. These and other variables are explored at a broader level to measure how political, economic, and religious power had an impact at the household level and explore how local families dealt with these changes and the maintenance of their own identities and social trajectories.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• From Households to Empires: Papers Presented in Honor of Bradley J. Parker   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24818