Pampa Grande is an archaeological site located in the Lambayeque Valley, in northern Peru, situated on the south shore of the Chancay-Lambayeque River.Shimada, Izumi 1976 Socioeconomic organization at Moche V Pampa Grande, Peru : prelude to a major transformation to come. Published Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona. It is located to the east of the city of Chiclayo.
This ancient city belonged both to Cupisnique and to Chavin cultures, and the earliest dates are around 600 BC. Later, during the Moche period ( AD), the city was a major regional capital.Izumi Shimada, Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture. University of Texas Press, 2010 Another famous Moche site, Sipán, is located only about 10 km west from Pampa Grande along the Chancay-Lambayeque River valley.
Geography and climate Pampa Grande is located about 54 km inland from the Pacific Ocean.Izumi Shimada, Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture. University of Texas Press, 2010
During the time of the Moche occupation at Pampa Grande the Lambayeque Valley generally had a moderate climate year round. The average temperature measures about and ranges from depending on the seasons. In the winter months from June to September, the El Niño current picks up and brings torrential rains and wind changes to coastal areas. However, these rains rarely hit the valley, as the annual precipitation levels are minimal. The rainy season lasts from February to April. The Chancay-Lambayeque River is filled to capacity during the rainy season.
Considerable rains must have hit the site since the Moche period, because the architecture of the site, including the main pyramid, has been severely eroded.
Site chronology During the Early Horizon Period (900–200 BC):
Cupisnique and Chavin occupations – 600–300 BC Moche I – 300–200 BC
The Early Intermediate Period (200 BC–600 AD)
Moche II–IV – 100 BC–500 AD. Varied but expansive architecture, not portable artifacts. Phases III and IV developed a "momentum" of increased polity.
The Middle Horizon (600–1000 AD)
Moche V – 600–700 AD. Biochrome/polychrome painted vessels/jars represent Moche V artistic tradition. Diversity in architectural structures exists to a further extent than Moche IV. Wari culture (or Huari) and Tiahuanaco – 700–800 AD. The rectangular enclosures and settlement plan are evidence of Huari Empirical domination and development.
The Late Intermediate Period (1000–1450 AD)
Chimu culture – 1000–1400 AD
The Late Horizon
Inca – 1476–1534 AD There is surprisingly little Inca pottery or materials left from their dominance until the arrival of the Spaniards.
There is little evidence left from pre-Moche II phases. If there were any significant evidence left behind, much of it would have been destroyed by the later Moche civilization phases. According to Shimada, the "post-Moche V developments in the region remain largely unknown." This makes Moche phases II–V the most examined periods.
Excavation and research history
The site was excavated with a large team of students and professionals for the Royal Ontario Museum Project starting in 1973, and continuing through 1975. Dr. Kent C. Day, Izumi Shimada, Melody Shimada, Andrew Ignatieff, Martha Anders, Hans Knapp, John Haas, Manuel Arboleda, and Juan Cabanillas all participated in the excavation from 1973–1975.
Many of these participants helped in some way in the interpretation of the site as well. In addition, Terry D'Altroy, Christine Krueger, Ciro Hurtado, and Christopher B. Donnan were also involved in the interpretations at Pampa Grande.
Starting in 2004, Llana Johnson worked at the site for her dissertation at UCLA.
Late Moche period During the late Moche V period, Pampa Grande became one of the largest Moche sites anywhere, and occupied the area of more than 400 ha.
Starting around 600 AD, new constructions were laid out and built in a short period of time, including an enormous ceremonial complex. At the heart of the complex is Huaca Grande, also known locally as Huaca Fortaleza—the tallest ceremonial platform in Peru.
Agriculture and economy
Crops and agriculture
The villages surrounding the urban center at Pampa Grande were likely small agricultural villages, which farmed for themselves and the Moche elite. Elaborate irrigation systems leading to the valley floors that stemmed from nearby rivers supported the rural farmers and led to intensification in agricultural production. Another large landscape change was the mound of Huaca Grande. Huaca Grande, a large pyramid structure, was constructed with adobe bricks. It arose as the Pampa Grande Elite gained political and economic power.Johnson, Ilana, 2010 Households and social organization at the Late Moche period site of Pampa Grande, Peru. Published Ph.D dissertation, UCLA
Macrobotanical remains show us that the non-urban farmers cultivated domestic plants such as beans, maize, squash, sweet potatoes, peanuts, chili pepper, gourd, algorrobo and cotton. Storage facilities "revealed pollen spores from the fern and monocot families. These types of plants were likely used for medicinal purposes and/or as animal fodder". The paleobotanical collection also has several wild species that could have been used for "fuel, building materials, animal fodder, medicine, and herbs". Several types of lithic artifacts were discovered in and around Pampa Grande. The stone adzes, which were bifacially flaked with appendages in order to be hafted to wooden handles, were used for tilling and harvesting. Batáns, large grinding stones, and manos, which were smaller hand-held grinding stones, were found in most every household. (Johnson, 2010: 119–120) In addition, scarce amounts of copper were found. Including fishing net weights, needles and fishhooks.
Hunting and faunal remains
There seems to be little evidence of hunting within Pampa Grande, as most of the 1,200 animal bones found were from domesticated animals. The tools were primarily agricultural focused with the exception of butchering tools. However, there were nearby sites that hunted for sea lions, deer, and snails. In addition to domestic animal remains, marine shells, and guinea pig feces were found.
The many faunal remains include, but are not limited to, marine invertebrate and vertebrate remains like shellfish, bony fish, and sea lion. Some of the terrestrial vertebrates uncovered include dog, guinea pig, iguana, llama and alpaca and rodents. There were "extensive marine species, large quantities of camelid (alpaca and llama), and moderate quantities of small terrestrial mammals".
Trade
In the Late Moche Period households lost autonomy and became reliant on elites and specialists, and integrated into the complex urban economy. "As agriculture intensifies and populations become concentrated in cities, the transmission of valuable goods and land increases in importance as resources become more limited". This led to specialization. Specialized items such as ceramics, figurines, beads, ornaments and spindle whirls were traded among urbanites at Pampa Grande.
Exotic foods such as "white-tailed deer, sea lion, coca leaves, aji peppers, and many types of fruits" are found rarely in domestic contexts, but appear in elite households, which suggests the powerful had greater trading capability. However, there seems to have been a steady flow of shellfish from the nearby Pacific Ocean. High quality polychrome vessels have been found that source to the Wari Empire. This civilization was located in the Central Andean Highlands.
Specialization
We see specialization occur for two specific reasons at Pampa Grande. Johnson explains that, "agricultural intensification around Pampa Grande, coupled with periodic droughts, left much of the valley without sufficient water for agriculture. This resulted in a large population in need of work and subsistence goods, thus requiring valley inhabitants to aggregate at Pampa Grande and find specialized non-agricultural work". In addition to this, "standardization is a good indicator of specialization because it reflects the producers' concern with efficiency and homogeneity.
At Pampa Grande there were numerous elite-sponsored workshops, which had minimal evidence of habitation. These workshops had controlled access, so as to keep the materials inside of them. Though many of the specialists in these workshops were commoners, elites also took part in craft production. Family and households also produced specialized goods, but on a much less controlled basis. Family units often organized their labor by kinship relations and operated in independent and domestic compounds. Such workshops were more loosely monitored by local authorities. And often, only checked up on when goods were expected as tribute to the elite.
Urban households would have been reliant on economic and social relationships in order to acquire specialized household utilitarian products. The production of material and agricultural goods seems to have been gendered. The "female roles in the household included more daily and maintenance activities related to child rearing and food preparation, while males engaged in more specialized activities related to the production of craft and agricultural items". We see standardization, by using molds, among many of the vessels, including: "stirrup-spout bottles figurines, rattles, whistles, and trumpets. Many storage vessels were made without molds as well, however by the later Moche phases, there was a significant increase in vessels produced using molds.
Artifacts and architecture
Types of architecture
There are two types of structures found at Pampa Grande, the elite Huacas and the common housing and occupational "Units". Huacas are earthen pyramids made from large adobe bricks built during the Middle Moche Period. They served as spaces for public and private rituals and housed the elite. The tops of the Huacas were platforms standing over public plazas. Huaca Grande is the largest Huaca located at Pampa Grande out of twenty-two Huacas. The units can be divided into two groups. In general, there are occupational units on the outer edge of the urban area and the residential units placed all around the site.
The urban center had many residential compounds, both for the higher-class elite and the lower class. The high-class compounds were built with higher quality materials and craftsmanship and commonly have high privacy walls that distinguish them. The materials used in construction at Pampa Grande seem to be the locally accessible materials rather than culturally ideal materials. The adobe bricks were basic sun-dried mud bricks that are found as one of the main architectural components. In addition to adobe brick, quadrangular rock was a common building material. For mortar, many techniques were used. Often found, there was dirt interior with clay on the exterior, or mud with fragments of utilitarian ceramic were used as mortar. Walls were also "constructed using a core-and-veneer masonry style. This architectural style is common at Moche sites and consists of rubble interior surrounded by nicely-shaped stones that form an external veneer". For elite housing, large pieces of rock would have been carried from a nearby source on the backs of camelids (alpaca, llamas) and cut to size as construction took place. This technique was also used in constructing the Huacas.
Changes in architecture
As in most cases, the architecture at Pampa Grande developed as the society developed socially, economically, and politically. At the time of the Late Moche Period, larger urban areas developed around the "necks of some valleys in order to control access to water". The earlier household units were constructed of multiple differing structures with different functions. As time went by the more common household unit was an apartment style building divided internally for different functionality.