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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 3 



and Spanish colonial elements. This rather stable 

 culture seems to have persisted without great change 

 from shortly after the Conquest— let us say, from 

 the end of the 16th century until the beginning of the 

 20th century or perhaps a little later. Precise dates 

 cannot be given in the absence of documentary rec- 

 ords. Much of this native-colonial culture remains in 

 the community at the present time, although con- 

 siantlv subject to intrusions of newer elements, over- 

 lavs, and reorientations. As might be expected, the 

 newer elements are found most frequently in the 

 houses of the pueblo and among the more well-to-do 

 families (faiiiilias acotnadadas). 



Until about 40 years ago at the most (as a con- 

 servative estimate), it would seem that the great 

 majority of Moche liouseholds got along with the fol- 

 lowing basic furnishings (later introductions are sug- 

 gested in parentheses) : Dirt floors (instead of floors 

 of boards, tiles, or cement) ; mates, large plate-shaped 

 shallow gourds for eating (instead of tinware and 

 enamelware plates) : wooden spoons, hand-carved, 

 and frequently none at all, no forks (instead of 

 metal factory-made spoons and forks) ; potos, globu- 

 lar cuplike gourds for drinking (instead of glass 

 tumblers) ; earthenware cups for hot liquids (in- 

 stead of glazed chinaware coffee cups) : est eras 

 of tofora used for mattresses and partially for cover- 

 ing, for sleeping directly on the dirt floor (instead 

 of cotton mattresses and wooden or metal bed- 

 steads) ; woolen hand-made blankets obtained from 

 the Sierra in trade (instead of cotton and woolen 

 factory-made blankets) ; hand-made earthenware 

 and shallow one-piece carved wooden vessels (bateas) 

 as containers for liquids, for clothes washing, etc, 

 • (instead of metal, enamelware, and wooden board 

 buckets, washtubs, water storage jars, etc.) ; earthen- 

 ware cooking pots (instead of iron pots and pans) ; 

 use of mats for sitting and eating (instead of tables 

 and benches or chairs) ; woolen bags for storing 

 clothes etc. (instead of wooden and metal trunks) ; 

 for lighting, candles and earthenware tallow lamps 

 with rag wick (instead of kerosene lamps of various 

 degrees of elaboration) ; and long-necked gourd 

 bottles (porongos) for chicha (instead of beer bottles 

 of glass). 



The following "native-colonial" items are present 

 in practically all Moche houses today, rich or poor, 

 although they may exist alongside newer items and 

 may not be used in the old way. ( 1 ) Mats of reeds 

 (esteras de totora) are found. (2) Fireplaces on 

 the ground consisting of three or four stones to sup- 



port a cooking pot are present (pi. 14, lower (left)). 

 (3) "Botijas" for storing chicha are in use. These 

 are elongated, cigar-shaped containers of baked 

 earthenware understood to hold 100 beer bottles of 

 chicha. The pattern seems to be Spanish, but those 

 in Moche are said to have been imported from Pisco 

 in times past, fdled with the well-known brandy of 

 the same name (pi. 13, upper (right)). Steel oil 

 drums have supplemented these containers in cer- 

 tain chichcrias requiring a comparatively large stor- 

 age capacity, but practically every house has at least 

 one. (4) Gourd drinking cups (potos) are present, 

 even when the household possesses glasses and china 

 cups. The Mochero prefers to drink his chicha from 

 a poto, claiming that the true flavor can only be ap- 

 preciated in this way. 



Although kerosene is quite extensively used for 

 lighting, there is, to my knowledge, no kerosene stove 

 or metal stove of any type in the community. In 

 the more elegant houses (usually in the pueblo) 

 hanging kerosene chandeliers are present. There is 

 no electric light, even for the streets, in the com- 

 munity. Factory-made furniture, such as carved 

 dining-room tables, sideboards, dish cupboards, sofas, 

 etc., occur in a few of the richer houses, as well as 

 framed oil paintings by local artists, oleo portraits, 

 and colored lithographs. In the poorer houses pic- 

 tures from magazines and newspapers, colored ad- 

 vertisements, and religious calendars usually con- 

 stitute the wall decorations, although several houses 

 have had the inside walls decorated with frescoes 

 by the owners or members of the family. Although 

 door curtains of the portiere type are affected in 

 one or two rich houses, rugs for the floor are totally 

 unknown in Moche, 



I was unable to make a systematic statistical sur- 

 vey of the houses for want of staff and for reasons 

 of delicacy. The people suspect officious question- 

 naire filling as a scheme of the Government to col- 

 lect taxes, and it was desirable that no such suspi- 

 cions upset my relations with them at this stage of 

 the work. However, three of the informants were 

 each asked to visit what they would consider a poor 

 house, a middle-type house, and a rich house, to 

 memorize the furnishings of each, and to write them 

 down. The lists given below are a collation of these 

 data, together with observations made by myself in 

 numerous visits to all types of houses, and are pre- 

 sented as the next best thing to a statistical survey. 



There are no social classes formally defined and 

 recognized in Moche, but there are differences in 



