An Early Subsistence Exchange System in the Moche Valley, Peru

Abstract

Technologically, the Initial Period in Peru began with the introduction of pottery and the change from twined to woven textile production. Within the Moche Valley, it was the time when a complex settlement first appeared in the valley interior — a relocation correlated with the beginnings of irrigation agriculture. This critical point in the process of adaptation to irrigation agriculture is explored through an examination of subsistence data from two sites: the Initial Period (1800-1400 B.C.) site of Gramalote on the coast and the Initial Period and Early Horizon (1400-400 B.C.) settlement of Caballo Muerto located well inland. Evidence from Caballo Muerto suggests that the shift from floodwater to irrigation agriculture was complete, yet the inland site still relied heavily on animal protein from Gramalote on the coast. Taken together, the two early ceramic sites form an economic unit which, when explored, reveals several important aspects of the transition from an exclusively coastal orientation to a predominantly inland agricultural subsistence focus.