G 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 



from which abruptly vises a small barren mountain 

 range, the two most prominent features of which 

 are the Cerro Blanco and the Cerro Comunero. The 

 river makes a bend around the northern point of 

 the Cerro Blanco, and here stands the great ruined 

 pyramid platfomi of the Huaca del Sol, which 

 dominates all views of the campiiia. To the south 

 and southeast, the rich level land of the District gives 

 way to low sand dunes a kilometer or so from the 

 sea and finally meets the broad beach of the Pacific, 

 which during the winter months (from June to De- 

 cember) is almost constantly pounded by a heavy 

 surf. 



RIoche is geographically in the Tropics. The 

 District of Moche lies between the parallels 8°8" 

 and 8° 12" south latitude and 79°0O" and 79°03" west 

 longitude ( pi. 1 ) . But the Peruvian coast is not 

 "the Tropics" as North Americans are accustomed 

 to think of them. The most outstanding feature of 

 the climate is that "it never rains," except at ver>' 

 long intervals. The last rain in Moche occurred in 

 1925 and was, naturally, a major disaster that de- 

 stroyed numerous houses and considerable property, 

 for the houses here are not built for rain. A roof, 

 for example, normally is expected to fulfill only the 

 functions of providing shade and privacy. Moche 

 occupies an oasis, dependent upon irrigation, and 

 all water comes either from the river or from under- 

 ground seepage. This fact has decided consequences 

 in such matters as personal hygiene and household 

 cleanliness. The water supply occupies men's 

 thoughts continuously. Land without water is worth- 

 less, regardless of the amount of work one may 

 expend upon it. 



In the summer (December to June) it is hot in 

 Moche, with a dry desert heat, mitigated, however, 

 by the sea breeze : but during the remainder of the 

 year the temperature is moderate, with a tendency 

 toward chilly nights and mornings. During part of 

 the winter season (July to October, inclusive) the 

 sky is overcast practically every morning until noon 

 or after, and frequently the low-hanging clouds pre- 

 cipitate a thin, cold drizzle, the gari'ia. The nearest 

 official weather station is at the Hacienda Casa 

 Grande in the Valley of Chicama, about 60 km. north 

 of Moche and some 25 km. farther inland. In 1942 

 this station registered a total precipitation of 7.5 mm. 

 per square meter and an average atmospheric pres- 

 sure of 1,010.8 milibars. The highest absolute tem- 

 perature during the year was 30.9° C. and the lowest 

 10.0° C. The highest mean temperature per 24 



hours was 24.2° C. and the lowest 16.6° C. Mean 

 temperatures during warm days might average 

 slightly lower in Moche, owing to proximity to the 

 sea. Although it never actually freezes in Moche, 

 cold nights, called "heladas" (freezers), occasionally 

 occur during the winter, which are said to damage 

 the alfalfa crops. 



W ilh the exception of the Moche District, most 

 of the arable lands of the Rio Moche drainage have 

 been preempted by haciendas, and since Moche lies 

 at the lower end of the valley, there is con- 

 stant preoccupation and not a few accusations 

 that water users higher up are robbing Moche of 

 its needed moisture. The Rio Moche rises in the 

 Cordilleras Blanca and Negro and has a basin of 

 about 800 sq. km. The river meter at Menocucho, 

 30 km. from the mouth and 200 m. above sea level, 

 indicates that the flow varies from 170,000 cu. m. 

 per second to 100 cu. m. per second, with an average 

 annual discharge over 4 years of 268,187,500 cu. m. 

 (Romero, 1944, pp. 26-27). By the time the river 

 reaches Moche, this flow has been reduced by irriga- 

 tion tapping to a mere trickle, especially in the dry 

 season. (See pi. 3.) 



THE "MOCHICA VILLAGES" 



Moche is generally regarded as one of a number 

 of "Mochica villages" scattered along the coast from 

 the A'alley of the Rio Chao to and including the 

 drainage of the Rio de la Leche. According to my 

 experience, the inhabitants of the Moche villages 

 themselves do not dwell upon the possibility that they 

 may be united by a common inheritance of ancient 

 culture, nor, in fact, are the majority of individuals 

 aware that this may be the case. However, a rather 

 vague bond of likeness and kinship is recognized. 

 True members of any one of these villages know 

 that they have closer social ties with members of the 

 other Mochica villages than with people in general, 

 that it has b?en traditional for one marrying outside 

 his own village to prefer persons from other Mochica 

 communities, and that the customary movement back 

 and forth to fiestas, and similar social intercourse, 

 has tended to flow between the Mochica villages 

 rather than in other channels. This may be a sur- 

 vival of the confederating influence of the Chimu 

 "empire" rather than Mochica ethnocentrism, and 

 at all events at present is an informal thing, not 

 based on a conscious or apparent organization. 



At the present time the following villages are re- 



