essay

The land in front of Chan Chan: agrarian expansion, reform, and collapse in the Moche Valley

chan chan: andean desert cityAlbuquerquePublished In 2010 • Pages: 25-53

By: Moseley, Michael Edward, Deeds, Eric E..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The large canals that were constructed around Chan Chan in the Moche Valley starting in the Initial Period (around 3400 BP) are taken as evidence of political power. At its height, Chan Chan controlled over sixty-six percent of irrigated coastal lands; this despite the fact that Moche is only a medium-sized valley. A model for this impressive concentration is formulated through a review of local developments contrasted with adjacent valleys, concluding that the Moche Valley system provided economic conditions favorable for repeated political ascendancy of the local population, up to the Colonial era city of Trujillo. Descriptions of the canals are given by time period, including construction histories and evidence for episodes of erosion and siltation.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Water supply
Territorial hierarchy
Production and supply
traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Chimu
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2015
RegionThe area the document pertains to
South America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Central Andes
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Archaeologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Sarah Berry; 2014
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
not specified
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1100-524 BP (AD 900-1476)
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Trujillo province (Moche Valley), La Libertad, Peru
NotesAdditional notes
Michael E. Moseley and Eric E. Deeds
For bibliographical references see document 18:[Moseley and Day] (2010, References)
Reprint of 1982 copy
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
80054567
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Chanchán (Peru)