essay

Lower-class social and economic organization at Chan Chan

chan chan: andean desert cityAlbuquerquePublished In 2010 • Pages: 145-175

By: Topic, John R..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Starting from the proposition that the urban lower class is key to understanding pre-industrial cities, a model is constructed for the characteristics, organization, and orientation of the lower class in Chan Chan. An overview of the urban settlement pattern incorporates excavation data, with descriptions of rooms-on-platforms and SIAR (small irregularly agglutinated rooms), administrative features, barrios, the layouts of various households, workshops (some with an [i]arcón[/i], a type of U-shaped structure with bins), wells, and access patterns within the site. SIAR residents came from several different groups, including traders and [i]mit'a[/i] (corvée) laborers that formed a social class the author calls the urban proletariat. The urban residences of Chan Chan are compared with several rural ones. Photos of Chan Chan and some of the excavations are included here.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Settlement patterns
Housing
Community structure
Classes
Urban and rural life
Household
Archaeological excavation methods
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
5: Excellent Primary 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
1969-1974
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)
Chan Chan, Huanchaco, Trujillo province (Moche Valley), La Libertad, Peru
NotesAdditional notes
John R. Topic, Jr.
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)