Household economics and political integration: the lower class of the Chimu empire

Moore, Jerry D.

Book

Household economics and political integration: the lower class of the Chimu empire

University Microfilms International • Ann Arbor, Mich. • Published In 1985 • Pages:

By: Moore, Jerry D..

Abstract
This dissertation is based on excavation of cane-walled structures comprising a lower class neighborhood at Manchan in the Casma Valley, a southern Chimu administrative center with a variety of other structures: adobe brick residences and public architecture, including administrative and funerary compounds; also three non-funerary mounds, low platforms, an unfinished llama corral, and cemeteries. The project tested how archaeological evidence may shed light on ways the imperial Chimu political economy may have manipulated or modified the lower class household economies, with a model of Chimu organization of labor, patterns of production, and patterns of consumption derived from the historically documented Inka. The archaeological evidence indicates a pattern of household self-sufficiency and a low level of state involvement in the domestic economy, except for agriculture. The state may have been involved, for no agricultural tools were found, although there are other possible explanations, like storing tools near fields. Manchan contrasts with the Moche Valley in the Chimu heartland, where evidence indicates the state had a direct and significant role in the economic system via the institutions of redistribution, surplus storage, and corvée labor, closer to the Inka model. The Manchan findings suggest that there were different levels of political integration in different parts of the empire.

Archaeological excavation methods

Cultural stratigraphy

Theoretical orientation in research and its results

Household

Production and supply

Dwellings

Miscellaneous government activities

Labor relations

Chimu

HRAF PubDate

2015

Region