Book

Reviews

Archaeology
The Moche.GarthBawden.Cambridge, MA:Blackwell Publishers,1996.375 pp.
THOMAS POZORSKI

University of Texas-Pan American

Garth Bawden haswritten the firstgeneral overview of the Mocheculture to appear in over20 years. As part of "The Peoplesof America" series currently beingpublished byBlackwell Publishers, thisbookis a verywelcomesynthesis of theMoche culture thatis basedon iconographic analysisof pottery and otherMocheartifacts; recentspectacular findsat Sipan,San Josede Moro,Huaca de la Luna, andHuaca El Brujo; andless wellknownsettlement andartifact studies. There is littlein this volumethatis trulynew,at leastto scholars familiar withthe Mocheculture. Therealstrength of thebookliesinitscohesive, and at timesprovocative, overviewgarnered frompublished sources andideasthathavebeenpresented atvarious meetings overthepast15years. Inchapter 1,Bawden presents thesources of information (archaeological, ethnohistoric, andethnographic) thatprehistoriansuse to reconstruct andunderstand Mocheculture. Bawden feels, withcertain justification, thatpaststudies haveoveremphasized theMoche "core area" centered around theMoche and Chicama Valleys,cloudingthe complexity of Mocheculture that is onlyrecently beginning tobeunderstood. Onenotable erroris themaponpage9 thatshowsbothGalindo andtheHuaca El BrujoComplex on the wrongside of theirrespective river valleys. In chapter 2, Bawdenincludesa rather thorough environmental description of the areas thatweredirectly orindirectly exploited by the Moche.Themainflaw in thischapter is the overemphasis on environmental change anddisasters (tectonic movements, tsunamis, andEl Ninorains) thathavesupposedly plagued thePeruvian coastforcenturies, periodically disrupting or destroying various civilizations. Thisenvironmental determinism pointof viewbecame popular in the 1980samong certainAndeanists butwasnever reallysupported by solidarchaeological orgeological evidence. Earthquakes andheavy rains do occur,butpeopleandcultures surviveandaremoreresilient thansomescholars think. Mochesettlements arediscussed in chapter 3. Mostarebelievedtobe smallrural centers, oftenhousing groups of specialists (farmers, fishermen, potters).Some archaeological evidence supports this, but muchof the specialized centeridea comes from laterethnohistoric documents, the information fromwhich is projected backward several hundred years andappliedtotheMoche.

Inchapters 4 and5, Bawden discusses thesymbols of power, represented by theiconography on pottery, metalobjects, and architecture, thattheMocheeliteusedandmanipulated during reenactments of sacred myths to legitimize theirelevated positionsinMoche society incontrast tothemajority of Moche people. Onecurious feature of chapter 4 is thediscussion of major platform sitesthat,according to Bawden, wererather sparsely populated ceremonial centers untilMoche V times.Withtherecentexcavations atCerro Blanco revealing a verydenseurban settlement, thisclaimabout emptyceremonial centers maybe overstated. Ironically, thisideamaystemfrom thelackof largescaleinvestigations at mostmajor Mochesites,a biasthathas distorted settlement patterns similar tothebiasBawden notesin theoveremphasized studies of theMoche corearea. Chapter 6 contains a summary of north-coast archaeological cultures backto late preceramic times.Cultural continuity is emphasized, i.e.,massive Initial Period mounds presaging later Mochepyramids. Onepointof contention thatI haveconcerns statements made about large-mound construction, beginning in this chapter withGallinazo mounds (p. 188) andrepeated in laterchapters (pp.229, 294)forMochemounds. FortheGallinazoandMoche, large mounds represent thecapability ofmobilizing largeregionallaborforces,implyingcentralized rule. However,suchcapability is deniedthe InitialPeriodpeople, even thoughtheirconstructions wereoftenmuchlarger than thoseof later peoples. I suspect that Bawden downplays thepossibilityof centralized ruleduring theInitial Period because (1) noelaborate burials haveyetbeenfound tosuggest classstratification and(2) strong centralized ruleat 1500B.C.doesnotcorrespond totheories dictating slowevolutionary development of complex socletles. Inchapter 7, Bawden notestheproblems investigators have hadwithLarco's five-phase sequence, particularly in the valleys north of Jequetepeque. Heenvisions theMocheculture as arising outof multiple sources alongthenorth coast,nottheresult of a single sourceexpansion out of the Moche-Chicama area. Chapter 8 concerns theflorescence of Mocheculture, corresponding toMoche III-IV, andthedifferences between theindividualistic centralized ruleof theMoche-Chicama areaversus themyth-role-enactment typeof rulein valleysto thenorth. In Bawden's view,thelattertype ofrulewasmoretiedtothecommunity,andas a result,during MocheV andlatertimes,the northern valleyssuffered farless dramatic change thandidthe valleysfrom Chicama onsouth. In chapters 9 and10, Bawden recounts thecollapseandreconstitution of Mochesocietyduring MocheV andlaterin the MiddleHorizon. Causesforthechanges in Mochesocietyincludeoutside pressure (though notconquest) bytheWari, envi< . .

AmericanAnthropologist 101(2):437-470. Copyright(C) 1999, AmericanAnthropological Association

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ronmentalproblems,and internalstress.Bawdenhandlesthese two chaptersquite well, despite the diff1cultyof obtainingconcreteevidenceof internalstressandanoveremphasis on the seriousness of environmental factors.Again, in his view, the northernvalleys faredbetterduringthis transitional period. In the final chapter,Bawden cites the legacy thatthe Moche left on latercultures,includingmodern-dayPeru.Examplesof this legacy include Chimu blackwarederived from Moche V blackwareandreedboatsthatarestill used along portionsof the northcoast. The most enduringlegacy, however,is the practice of shamanism,which Bawden sees as directlytied to the Moche rulers'roles as shamansin maintaininga balancebetween the realworldandthe spiritworld. In sum, GarthBawdenhas provideda thoroughandstimulating volume thatoffers muchfood for thoughtconcerningone of ancientPeru's most interestingcivilizations. Overall,the book is well done. My majorcomplaintis thatthe half-tonereproductions are of poor quality,often too darkto discernmuch detail. Despitethisreservation, this book deservesa place on the bookshelves of all persons,scholars,and laypersonsalike who have an interestin ancientPeru. *

ArchaeologicaPeruana: PrehispanicArchit and Civilization in the Andes. ElisabethBonnierand HenningBischof; eds. Mannheim, Germany: Reiss-Museum,1997. 236 pp. JERRY MOORE California State University-DominguezHills Sometimesthe best thing an archaeologist cando is to drawa good map,andthis is amplyillustrated in PrehispanicArchitecture and Civilizationin the Andes. The outgrowthof a symposium at the 1988 International Congress of Americanists,the volume contains 11 papers in Spanish and English edited by ElisabethBonnierandHenningBischof. As Bonnierobserves in the introduction (p. 10), the symposium unintentionallyexposed two different trends in archaeological approaches to architecture: ';lwhe Europeanarchaeologists were giving more attention to formal analysis and definitionof constructionsequences . . . [whereas]theirAmerican colleagues . . . wouldrather focus on settlementpatterns and the social and economical aspects of the architectural study." Five authors(Wurster, Reindel,Fuchs,Bischof, andTellenbach [unfortunately, most of Dr. Tellenbach's article was missing from my review copy]) emphasize formal analysis and constrllctiontechniques, three authors (Shimada,Cavallaro,and Greider)discuss social and economical aspects, and Bonnier contributestwo articles, one from each approach.One article falls outsideof this very loose frameworl;Eleraprovidesan excellent overview of the Peruvian Formative Cupisniqueand Salinarcultures,butscarcelymentionsarchitecture. Before discussing individualarticles, I must emphasizethe high qualityof the publication.Architectural studiesdependon theirillustrations, andthe authorsandthe Reiss-Museumareto be thankedfor the excellent photographs,plans, and sections. Some illustrationsare actuallybeautiful,and all the artworkis competentanduseful to archaeologists.

The papers focusing on formal analysis and construction techniques include Fuchs's detailed discussion of building stages at CerroSechin in the CasmaValley, Peru.Long-known for its bas-reliefsshowing ax-bearingwarriorsand theirmutilatedvictims,scantchronologicaldataaboutCerroSechinhave been available. Fuchs's detailed constructionsequence spanning ca. 2500 2300 B.C. to 30S200 B.C. (pp. 157-159) is a welcome additionto Andean archaeology.Similarin its focus on building sequences,Reindel suggests a sequence for North Coast monumentalarchitecturebased on changes in adobe bricksand morphologicalchanges in buildingplans.Although interesting, it does notproducea chronologicalalternative to ceramicsequencs,whichis Reindel's statedgoal (p. 91). Bischof's articleon the site of CerroBlanco, in the Nepena Valley on Peru's coast, is an excellent photographicsurvey of the site. Historic photographsculled from hacienda archives show variousstages in the site's excavation andits deterioration. Bischof examines iconographicmotifs depicted in now nearlydestroyedpolychromereliefs andarguesthatcoastalsites like CerroBlanco contain importantinformationaboutthe religious and sociopolitical dimensions of the Early Horizon's Chavintradition. Bonnier,in her articleon constructionsequencesat the Late Preceramic (ca. 300F1800 B.C.) site of Piruru, shows thecomplex historyof ritualarchitecture at the site andexpandsherdiscussion ofthe Mitoreligiousarchitectural style. Bonnier'scomparisonof Piruru andothersites (Kotosh,La Galgada)suggests the LatePreceramic Mito religion unified the north-central PeruvianAndes. Wursterpresentsarchitectural and settlementdata from the little-knownToparaValley, located on the southcoast of Peru. Wurster'sbriefarticleonly hints at the rich datahe andhis colleagues have obtained.The majorityof the ToparaValley sites date to Late Intermediate period (ca. A.D. 90s1470) andLate Horizon(ca. A.D. 147S1530). The largestsite, Huaquina Este, is an architectural complex covering some 500 x 200 meters with dwellings, public plazas, and multiroomcompoundsused for both residentialfunctionsand funeraryrites. Wurster'ssuperbarchitectural plansareanimportant contribution to Andean archaeology. Cavallarocritiquesseriationsof the large royal compounds (ci1ldadelas) at ChanChan,the LateIntermediate periodcapital of the PeruvianChimuEmpire.AlthoughCavallaro'sresearch has been publishedelsewhere,this versionis particularly clear. Cavallaroconcludesthatat best one can separatethe royalcompoundsinto Early,Middle, andLate ciudadelas,not a unilineal sequence. This section of Cavallaro'sarticle is tightly argued, butthereis no reasonto think as Cavallarodoes thatthe difficulties of seriatingChanChan's ciudadelasindicatedualpolitical organization. Thepenultimatesection of the articleoffers an unconvincinganalysisof dualorganization at the Inkasite of Huanuco Pampa that does nothing to advance Cavallaro's claims. The weakestpaperin the volume is TerenceGrieder' s article7 "On Two Types of Andean Tombs," which contrastsaboveground funerarystructures(chullpas) and subterranean shaft andchambertombs. In a free-formuse of SouthAmericanethnographythatblithelyhops acrossmillenia,Griederarguesthat the shaft and chambertombs symbolized wombs and that the chullpas arephalli, and thata supposedshift in funerary forms