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Archaeology: Moche Occupation of the Santa Valley, Peru. CHRISTOPHER B.

DONNAN

Article  in  American Anthropologist · October 1974

DOI: 10.1525/aa.1974.76.4.02a00900

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 ARCHAEOLOGY
adapts to a different set of environmental
conditions in a new region.
Besides Giddings’ article, the two articles
of most lasting value for the student will
probably be Wheat’s (1967) summary de-
scription of the Olsen-Chubbuck bison kill,
which is an excellent example of how an
archaeologist thinks deductively; and Mac-
Neish’s insightful introduction, which points
out the need for a broadened theoretical
perspective on the problem of Early Man in
America.
Moche Occupation of the Santa Valley,
Peru. CHRISTOPHER B. DONNAN. Univer-
sity of California Publications in Anthro-
pology, Vol. 8. Berkeley & London: Univer-
sity of California Press, 1973. x + 240 pp.,
figures, maps, tables, plates, 5 appendices,
bibliography. $8.50 (paper).
Reusiwed by DAVID L. BROWMAN
Washington University,St. Louis
Donnan’s volume is one of the superlative
ceramic histories of coastal Peru. Dealing
with Moche phases on the North Coast, it is
the third Berkeley doctoral dissertation on
the Early Intermediate Period of Peru
published in this series. Along with Patter-
son’s (1966)work on the Miramar and Lima
phases of the Central Coast and Proulx’s
(1968)work on part of the Nasca phases of
the South Coast, it provides a good summary
of current ceramic knowledge of coastal
Peru for this period.
The study is clearly of great interest to
Andeanists, but it will be of use to the
specialist in settlement pattern studies as
well. At its peak, the Moche empire
stretched from Pacatnamu in the Pacasmayo
valley in the north, to Paiiamarca in the
Nepeiia valley in the south. Donnan selected
the Santa valley because the river flows year
around the provides a gerat deal of cultivable
land capable of sustaining a sizable popula-
tion. In contrast, most northern coast valleys
do not have rivers that flow year around,
and therefore they experience a sizable fluc-
tuation in cultivable land, depending on rain
in the sierra. Donnan deliberately utilizes the
settlement pattern terms and format used by
Willey (1953)for the Vim valley some fifty
kilometers to the North. Vim-like settlement
951
pattern analysis was most appropriate, since
the two areas both had Gallinazo ceramic
style occupations during the early part of
the Early Intermediate Period, and both
were conquered and assimilated into the
Moche state later in the Early Intermediate
Period. Donnan has thus modeled his data
on settlement patterns so that comparison
between the Santa Valley and the Viru Val-
ley is both easy and explicit.
The study is another of the exquisite
ceramic analyses written under the direction
of Dr. John Rowe at Berkeley. The volume
is mainly devoted to the analysis of the
ceramics from eighty-five sites with Moche
occupation debris out of the 192 known in
the valley, covering approximately three
centuries-ca. A.D. 200-500. These three
centuries are divided into three units, Moche
111, IV, and V. Yet unpublished work by
Rowe and Donnan and others would now
permit subdivision of the century-long
epochs into subphases of roughly fifty years
duration. While materials from all eighty-five
sites were used, most of the analysis is based
on intensive surface collections made from
eighteen Moche cemetery sites and on strati-
fied refuse from excavations at eight Moche
habitation sites. Donnan successfully carried
out an unusual pact with the local grave-rob-
bers. Unable to stop their looting, and
needing a large number of undisturbed
graves for good association of ceramic and
non-ceramic artifacts, Donnan decided to
exploit the superior knowledge, experience,
and expertise of the native grave-robbers in
locating graves. With some minor difficulty,
he side-tracked their destructive looting into
a salvage archaeology program, providing
him with the major portion of his grave lots.
Ceramic evidence suggests a militaristic
expansion south by the Moche people of the
Trujillo and Chicama valleys into the Vim,
Chao, and Santa valleys at the end of Moche
Phase II or the beginning of Moche Phase 111.
The expansion entailed more than militaris-
tic domination, Donnan argues, for the
Moche style was adopted by the common
people as well as the elite. Barring minor
local differences, the ceramic style in the
Santa Valley during Moche Phases I11 and IV
was strikingly similar to that of the Trujillo
and Chicama valleys of the Moche heart-
lands; Moche ceramic style completely re-
placed the local style that had previously
 952 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
been prevalent, and Moche ware permeated
the entire social fabric, being used by the
rural farmers as well as the political and
religious hierarchy. The Moche occupation
of Santa is a foreign domination by an al-
ready established “empire” from Trujillo
and Chicama, which spread suddenly at the
beginning of Moche Phase 111. During Moche
Phases I11 and IV,Santa was a province in a
multi-valley state; but by Moche Phase V,
the Moche dominance in Santa was being
replaced by Huari influence from the south.
Both ceramics and textiles indicate that
the technological orientation was toward
mass production and repetition, and toward
the selection of media for artistic expression
that would lend themselves to mass produc-
tion. Thus mold-fabricated wares were fre-
quent, and decoration was limited to simple
bichrome slip painting on ceramics; textiles
were mainly of very simple weaves. This
orientation seems to have been limited to
the northern coast of Peru-contemporary
Nasca craftsmen to the South emphasized
artisanship rather than quantity in their
elaborate handcrafted polychrome vessels
and their beautiful textiles of complex
weaves.
Donnan’s work, both in this volume and
in a work in press, is a major contribution to
Peruvian archaeology. Much of the volume is
a detailed ceramic history, but Donnan
builds upon this sturdy foundation to make
some of the first statements about the
political and econonomic organization of the
Moche state that are based on solid data
rather than speculation. The volume is par-
ticularly useful to all Andeanists, but be-
cause of its necessarily limited chronological
and geographical scope, may be of less in-
terest to the general anthropologist.
References Cited
Patterson, Thomas C.
1966 Pattern and Process in the Early
Intermediate Period Pottery of the
Central Coast of Peru. University of
California Publications in Anthropol-
ogy, Vol. 3. Berkeley.
Prouk, Donald A.
1968 Local Differences and Time Differ-
ence in Nasca Pottery. University of
California Publications in Anthropol-
ogy, Vol. 5. Berkeley.
Willey, Gordon R.
1953 Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in
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[76,1974]
the Viru Valley, Peru. Bureau of
American Ethnology. Bulletin 155.
Washington, DC: Smithsonian In-
stitu tion.
Beginner’s Guide to Archaeology. LOUIS A.
BRENNAN. Hamsburg, PA: Stackpole
Books, 1973. 318 pp., figures, museum
guide, site guide, resource guide, plates,
tables, references, index. $9.95 (cloth).
Reviewed by CHARLES C. KOLB
Pennsylvania State University
One’s initial reaction to this volume
might be that we have yet another “how-to-
do-archaeology” book; however, the reader
will find more than a guide to methods and
techniques designed for the neophyte and
non-professional. Brennan, a novelist, news-
paper editor, and author of three archaeo-
logical treatises, has regularly contributed to
archaeological publications and is the editor
of three eastern United States journals.
The title, Beginner’s Guide to Archaeol-
ogy: The Modem Digger’s Step-by-step Zn-
troduction to the Expert Ways of Unearth-
ing the Past, is indicative of the book’s popu-
lar approach. It is also a recent Natural Sci-
ence Book Club selection. In some ways it is
an up-to-date expansion of Robbins’ hand-
book (1965, 1973), with important differ-
ences. Brennan writes for North American
prehistory students, but in topical coverage
and examples, the book is best suited to
Northeastern United States investigators.
Brennan commences with essays entitled
“Ensuring a Future for the Past” and “How
Archaeologists Work,” before Chapter 3 con-
cerning prehistoric man in the New World.
The latter is the weakest section, with
numerous flaws, omissions, and equivoca-
tions. His evaluation of the Wisconsin 1-111
glaciations (pp. 37-41)is obscure and should
have been phrased with proper name sub-
stages and explanatory diagrams. Unfortun-
ately, clear distinctions are not made be-
tween “Mexican” and “Meso-American”
civilizations (p. 37). There is undue emphasis
on MacNeish’s (1971) popular Ayacucho
region article, while the Calico and Valse-
quill0 sites, and Tehuacan and Tamaulipas
areas, among other significant researches,
remain unmentioned. The use of Willey