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Irrigation and the Origins of the Southern Moche State on the North Coast of Peru

Bibliographic Data

ID4374591
AuthorsBrian R Billman (0000-0002-7818-7878)
Year2002
Volume13
Issue4
Pages371-400
Publication date2002-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1045-6635 • E-ISSN: 2325-5080
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/972222
OpenAlexW2335295132
LanguageEN
Citations received88
References cited68

In this paper, I examine the role that irrigation played in the formation of the Southern Moche state in the Moche Valley, Peru. Specifically, I attempt to test Wittfogel and Steward's hydraulic model, which postulates that in certain arid environments, the managerial requirements of construction and maintenance of irrigation systems played a crucial role in the formation of centralized polities. I formulate and evaluate four hypotheses concerning the role of irrigation systems in the Moche Valley. Those hypotheses are then evaluated using settlement pattern data drawn from two surveys that cover the entire coastal section of the valley and provide information on 910 archaeological sites. Based on those data, I present a sequence of political development for the valley from the formation of the first autonomous village in the Late Preceramic period (2500-1800 B. C.) to the zenith of the Southern Moche state. Evaluation of the four hypotheses indicates that the managerial requirements of irrigation were relatively unimportant; rather, warfare, highland-coastal interaction, and political control of irrigation systems created opportunities for leaders to form a highly centralized, territorially expansive state sometime between A. D. 200 and 700

Archaeology · Arid · Expansive · Geography · Irrigation · Political science · Politics · Settlement (finance · State (computer science · State formation · Ecology · Geology · Law · Paleontology

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Unique citing works88
Citations per year3,83
Citation span2003 - 2026 (24)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 87
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