MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNlTi'— GILLIN 



37 



back of town, each in charge of a niayordoiiiia of 

 four to six men, who have the obHgation to take 

 down their cross on the 3d of May, paint it, offer 

 fruit and other products to it, and put it back up 

 at the end of the month. In Huanchaco, in contrast 

 to Moche. the crosses have no padriitos. Tlic tak- 

 ing down and putting up, however, are occasions for 

 a fiesta in charge of the members of the group. 



The following two Huanchaco items are not 

 found in Moche. When a child dies, the church bells 

 toll la scijuidilla, i. e., lightly and in rapid succes- 

 sion, which is said to sound like "cs aiigcUto, cs 

 angdito'' (it's a little angel). When an adult dies 



the doblc is sounded as in Moche. The dead in 

 Huanchaco are buried with all of their personal be- 

 longings, even old items — all clothing, ornaments, 

 pocket pieces, and the like. 



In summary, we may see in Huanchaco a special- 

 ized fishing community which possibly has devel- 

 oped from the same prehistoric cultural matrix as 

 Moche. At all events, tine orientation in Moche has 

 developed toward agriculture ; in Huanchaco, toward 

 fishing. And in both communities colonial and mod- 

 ern culture have overlaid the earlier elements very 

 thicklv. 



HABITATIONS 



TYPES OF STRUCTURES 



As can be seen from plates 11 and 12, the house- 

 types and architecture of Moche show considerable 

 variation. Generally speaking, the style of domestic 

 architecture may be regarded as a simple colonial 

 form in which, in many structures, has been incor- 

 porated certain elements reminiscent of prehistoric 

 cultures. In the pueblo, especially, the houses do 

 not look notably different from those seen in many 

 a Peruvian coastal village or town. They stand in 

 solid blocks with their white plastered fronts flush 

 with the sidew-alk (pi. 10, lozvcr (right) ). It is 

 mainly in the caiiipina that one finds the "typical" 

 Moche dwelling, which exhibits a variety of dis- 

 tinguishing characteristics. 



When all minor variations are left out of account, 

 Moche dwellings and shelters may be classified into 

 the following types, in order of frequency : ( 1 ) 

 Adobe houses, (2) quincha houses, (3) totora 

 shelters, (4) tapia houses. In keeping with the very 

 mixed character of all Moche culture, it is not in- 

 frequent to see a house embodying features of several 

 of these types (pi. 11, upper (rigltt), middle (lejt) ). 



Adobes are made by speciahsts. There are also 

 some ordinary citizens possessing skill and facilities 

 who make their own adobes when building their 

 houses. In the pueblo the specialists are relied upon 

 more than in the cainpina, and in ^^944 adobes sold 

 for 60 soles ($9.18) per 1,000, Five years earlier 

 they were obtainable for as little as 20 soles per 

 1,000, the rise in price being blamed on "the war." 

 The adobes are of the common type used at present, 

 so far as I know, throughout the coastal region. 



They are rectangular, with right-angled edges, and, 

 according to my measurements, vary from IS to 24 

 inches in length, 12 to 14 inches in width, and 3 to 4 

 inches in thickness ; the lower figure in all cases is 

 "standard." The adobe is made of clayey dirt w^hich 

 is dug loose in the ground itself and puddled by 

 pouring water over it. It is mixed with grass which 

 has been chopped with a machete into lengths be- 

 tween 1 and 2 inches. A spade is used for mixing. 

 It is usually carried from the mixing spot in gunny 

 sacks (camalcs) to a nearby flat piece of ground 

 where it is pressed into a wooden frame of proper 

 size on a flat board platform. After it has been 

 properly smoothed on top with the spade, the frame 

 is removed and the adobe is slid off the board plat- 

 form onto a clean flat piece of ground (sometimes 

 covered by a pefatc), and left to dry in the sun. A 

 week of drying before use is considered desirable. 



Adobe walls are, by preference, laid up by pro- 

 fessional masons (albanilcs) of whom there are 15 

 in the community. In the campina, however, many 

 a house has been built by the householder with the 

 help of a group of friends and relatives in a modified 

 minga. In such a case it is considered desirable to 

 hire a mason to supervise the job. Lines are 

 stretched to keep the wall straight and a plumb line 

 is occasionally hung from the top to maintain verti- 

 cality. Occasionally scaffoldings or boards are used 

 to support the workers, but more often than not a 

 heap of dirt on the inside of the wall serves the 

 purpose. It is built up as the wall increases in height 

 and shoveled away when the job is finished. 



Adobe walls may stand in their original state (pi. 

 10, upper (right) ), or may be plastered (pi. 10, 



