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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 



acknowledge the general leveling and diffusing in- 

 fluence of the Inca conquest which rubhed out and 

 blurred numerous items of local origin and which had 

 the effect of transforming many cultural features of 

 formerly restricted distribution into "Pan-Peruvian" 

 or "Inca" elements of culture. 



MOCHICA ELEMENTS 



We may briefly compare the present culture of 

 Moche with that of the Mochicas as we know it from 

 the archeological record. Certain of the basic ways 

 of life current at the present time were undoubtedly 

 characteristic of Mochica culture as well. It seems to 

 me, however, that this merely shows that certain pat- 

 terns date back to Mochica times (say 1000 A.D.) in 

 this region. Most of them are general to those parts 

 of the coast where they are environmentally suitable, 

 and it is difficult to prove a persistence to modern 

 Moche of the really distinctive features of Mochica 

 culture, features which would lead us to see Moche 

 as a community more ''Mochica" in character than 

 other communities. 



Then, as now, irrigated agriculture, on the one 

 hand, and fishing, on the other hand, provided the 

 economic bases of life and presumably formed the 

 central core of interests of tlie society. Some of the 

 irrigation ditches built by the Mochicas, for example, 

 the Mochica, are still in use. Although in the Moche 

 campina the present water gates and dams are of 

 modern construction, the straight ditches, the system 

 of posas, and the meandering ditches (surcos de 

 caracal) of Mochica times are still employed. 



How does a modern Mochero resemble, in his mode 

 of life, the ancient Mochica? He lives in a house of 

 adobe with a dirt floor, supported by an unsawed 

 wooden framework similar to Mochica. Although the 

 majority of roofs are now low-sloped, they are still 

 made of mud plastered over a framework of cane and 

 cstcra (p. 37). Pitched roofs occur (pi. 12, upper 

 (left)), and the use of an inclined roof of eslcra mat- 

 ting as a sunshade is quite common. Open work in 

 the house walls below the roof (pis. 11, upper 

 (ri(jhf) ; 12, lonrr (left) ) seems to come down from 

 Mochica times, as well as the half wall and broken 

 wall of plastered adobe (pi. 11, middle (right)). 



Our Moche friend rarely eats a meal without boiled 

 green corn (choclo) and yuca, which were two of the 

 stand-bys of the Mochicas. In his field or garden he 

 cultivates the following plants, which were also cul- 

 tivated by the Mochicas :«« Maize (Zea mays), 



"* See Larco Hoyle, ms. b, for plants cultivated by Mochic.is. 



chirimoyo (Annoiia cherimola) , gutLukbana. (Annona [j 

 uinrcata), palta (Pcrsca amcricatia) , beans (Pliaseo- ; 

 /;/,? vulgaris), pallares (Phascolus lunaius), peanuts 'j 

 (Aracliis Itypogaea), pacae or guaba (Inga jeuillei), 

 yuca {MaiiiJwt utilissima), cotton (semiwild brown 

 cotton is the only type occurring' at present in 

 Moche), papaya (Carica papaya), guayaba, red and 

 white {Psidium guayava), liicuma (Lucuma obo- 

 x'ata), camote or sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas), aji 

 pepper (Capsicum aunmim), small wild tomato which 

 grows half wild around the edges of fields 

 (Solatium lycopersicum), potato (Solanum tubero- 

 sum), although not much cultivated in Moche at 

 present, caigua (Cyclanlhera pedata), three kinds of 

 pepino (Solanum muricatum), zapallo of several 

 varieties (Cucurbita maxima), and gourds of various 

 kinds. Coca is not grown here at present, but ac- 

 cording to Stiglich,** was so grown in the 1890's, and 

 it is chewed by modern Mocheros occasionally and on 

 special occasions. 



Of course, our Moche friend also cultivates a long 

 series of subsequently introduced plants, but those 

 mentioned above have come to him from the Mo- 

 chicas. He uses a modern broad-bladed iron spade 

 for cultivating his fields, but the technique seems to 

 be the same as that employed by the Mochicas with 

 their narrow-bladed copper and bronze spades or 

 metal-tipped digging sticks. Corn is still hilled up 

 (with the spade) by hand, even by many farmers 

 who own plows and oxen. The hooked knife or 

 "calabazo" (pi. 5, lower (right) ; 6, center) also 

 was possibly a Mochica tool."" 



Our Mochero usually eats his food and drinks his 

 chicha from containers made of gourds in various 

 shapes, and with a whittled spoon of wood. Gourd 

 containers, chicha, spoon are all Mochica traits. He 

 usually has a good many items on his menu which 

 the ancient Mochicas never heard of, such as rice, 

 coffee, beef, pork, chicken, but a considerable 

 part of his food was also known to the Mochicas. 

 His wife cooks the food in earthen pots, which, to be 

 sure, are no longer made in Moche, but acquired in the 

 market from other Indian potters; but this appears 

 to be a survival of a Mochica, or at least an Indian, 

 custom, because metal and china vessels could be 

 easily, and just about as cheaply, obtained. She still 

 prepares aji and green corn kernels on the batdn and 



■"Stiglich, 1922, p. 68S: "Desde cl afio 1891 ha comcnzajo la 

 prosperidad de este valle donde solo se cultivaba coca y fruta. La coca 

 .>iempre es llevada a Trujillo por arriercs." 



'" Several specimens of copper exist in the Museo ArqueoI6gico 

 "Rafael I.arco Ilerrera" whidi are surely pre-Conqnest, but may be 

 Chimn. 



