12 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 3 



see the beginning of the Mochica period some 400 

 to 500 years earlier." All archeologists, however, 

 are agreed that the Mochica' culture was followed and 

 modified in prehistoric limes by so-called Tiahuana- 

 coid cultures from the Sierra out of which overlay 

 and mixture developed the Chimu culture of the north 

 coast area, which in turn was modified by mixture 

 and overlay of Inca cultural influences, as a result^ of 

 the Inca conquest of the Chimus, probably in the 15th 

 century A. D. 



Thus one cannot expect the Mocheros of today, 

 even if regarded as lineal descendants of the Mochicas 

 of antiquity, to exhibit Mochica culture in its pure 

 form. The aboriginal cultural base in Moche is com- 

 posed of elements of Mochica, Tiahuanaco, Chimu, 

 and Inca cultures. And the aboriginal base itself has 

 been mixed and modified by four centuries of contact 

 with European cultural influences. 



Our knowledge of Mochica culture is derived in 

 the main from the realistic pottery, mentioned pre- 

 viously, of which the world's largest and best studied 

 collection exists in the Museo Arqueologico "Rafael 

 Larco Plerrera," in the Hacienda Chiclin, some 56 

 km. from the village of Moche. This collection has 

 been acquired and studied by Rafael Larco Hoyle, the 

 well-known Peruvian archeologist, and it will be nec- 

 essary to rely largely upon his findings in order to 

 identify the still existing Mochica elements in Moche. 

 The later prehistoric cultures of the region are known 

 from archeology and also from accounts of Spanish 

 chroniclers in the epoch of the Conquest. The most 

 detailed description of the Chimu culture existing at 

 the time of the Conquest is that of Calancha (1638). 

 Rather than attempt to set forth a trait list of the 

 several prehistoric cultures, so far as they are known, 

 at the present point, a discussion of the prehistoric 

 survivals will be postponed until a later section (p. 

 154 ff.). 



As for the meaning of the word "Moche," opinions 

 differ. According to Paz Soldan (1877, p. 590) 

 "mocha" is a corruption of "mochi," Quechua for "to 

 rinse the mouth" or "to chew corn to make chicha." 

 This, in view of the modern habits of the Mocheros, 

 would be a very appropriate definition. On the other 



hand, in Villagomes (1919, p. 210, footnote) is found \ 

 the verb "mochar" defined as "to cut or lop of?" and [ 

 also as "to kiss or render religious homage." This ji 

 source does not tell whether the word is Quechua or |i 

 Mochica. My friend, Seiior Manuel Briceno, who i 

 maintains a residence in Moche and who has enjoyed i 

 a long period of collaboration with Sefior Rafael i 

 Larco Hoyle in the study of tlie ancient and modern j 

 Mochica culture and language, claims that the word j 

 is Mochica, meaning "to worship or adore religi- ! 

 ously." I have been unable to locate the word in any j 

 published vocabulary of the Mochica language. My 

 friend. Dr. J. M. B. Farfan, the well-known Quechua | 

 scholar, is inclined to derive the word from the 

 Quechua word "inuchhi," meaning "pimple" or 

 "acne."^^ 



Finally, before leaving this review of the scanty 

 historical material, it will be recalled that, according 

 to Uhle's excavations, the town during Mochica times 

 was located on the plain, or llano, lying between the 

 Huaca del Sol and the Huaca de la Luna (Uhle, 

 1913, fig. 1 and p. 98), a site covered by the remains 

 of small house mounds with numerous burials nearby. 

 From the pottery, Uhle concluded that the site had 

 been occupied by the Chimu and Inca following the 

 Mochica period. At the present time this site lies in 

 the extreme northern corner of the area which we are 

 studying. There is no archeological evidence that an 

 ancient Mochica town occupied the present site of the 

 pueblo of Moche. Although at present this is mere 

 speculation, I would not be surprised that the ap- 

 propriate church and colonial documents, if and when 

 they eventually come to light, would show that the 

 present pueblo was established shortly after the Con- 

 quest following an early subdivision of other lands 

 among the Spaniards. The lands and Indians north- 

 west of the river and upstream from the Huacas were 

 probably granted in encomiendas, leaving a group of 

 Indians confined to the area corresponding to the i 

 present District of Moche, scattered about a small ' 

 land grant, now known as the Haciendita. 



A later section (p. 154) deals with possible sur- 

 vivals of earlier cultures in the present cultures of 

 Moche. 



SUSTENANCE AND BASIC ECONOMY 



One of the distinctions enjoyed by Moche is that 

 it is still a community of independent farmers, where- 

 as most of the other Peruvian coastal communities 



"E. g,, Horkheimcr, 1944, p. 10: 

 A. D." 



"in the second or third century 



have been absorbed into large haciendas. The basic 

 economic activity at the present day is small-scile, 

 irrigated farming, supplemented by a diminishing 

 amount of fishing, and there is good reason to believe 



" Farf.-in, personal communication. 



