Pacatnamu
The Pacatnamu site is located at the mouth of the Jequetepeque Valley on the northern coast of Peru. Rocky cliffs protect two of its sides and a humanmade wall protects the third. This area of Peru does not have a tropical environment; it gets very little precipitation and has a mild climate, which sometime can become very humid.
Excavation history
Explorers had mentioned the site of Pacatnamu since the late 1800s, but the site was not studied in detail until 1925. Kroeber made some sketches of the main architectural features of the site but only of one portion of the site. Archaeological excavations first began in 1937–39 by German archaeologist Heinrich Ubbelohde-Doering. He conducted more excavations in 1952–53 and again in 1962–63. His work resulted in more excavations of more pyramid complexes.Wolfgang and Giesela Hecker joined Ubbelohde-Doering on his 1962–63 excavations. They produced a general map of the site as a whole as well as some detailed maps of the architectural features. Richard Keatinge conducted an extensive surface survey in 1974 and published several brief reports on his findings. In 1983 the Instituto Nacional de Cultura in Lima approved the Museum of Cultural History at the University of California, Los Angeles request to do a five-year excavation permit at Pacatanamu. This excavation was extremely successful and from their research they produced hundreds of artifacts and created a chronology of occupation for the site.
Chronology
There are two periods of occupation at the site: an early period when Moche ceramics were in use, and a later period characterized by the use of Chimu ceramics. Brick serration used in construction allows us to see a chronology of occupation within each of those times of occupation. Pacatnamu was unoccupied before the end of Moche IV or the beginning of the Moche V. During this Moche period some ceremonial architecture was constructed. During this time of occupation ceramics clearly show some Huari influence, but the textiles are clearly Moche. Also the burials from this time simply reflect Moche styles. Near the end of Moche occupation a new ceramic form appeared which signaled the end of the Moche occupation. In approximately A.D. 1050 there is a break between the Moche occupation and Chimu occupation.This period coincides with extensive flooding in this area and a dramatic change in nearly all artifact types. Around A.D. 1100–1150 there was another large population living in Pacatnamu with a new style of ceramics, textiles and bricks, and new architectural forms that help us date the sites occupational periods. The second period of population is known as the Chimu occupation. Major walls were built at this time because of a need for defense. There is a bit of unfinished wall to the north, which suggests they were trying to expand near the end of their occupation. Not much is known about why the Chimu occupation ended but it happened sometime around A.D. 1370. It is possible that more populations occupied Pacatnamu after 1370, but by the time the Inca conquered the North Coast the site was mostly in ruins.
Agriculture and economy
Evidence of animal use
proved to be an important animal at Pacatnamu both for everyday use and ritualistic purposes. Their bones are found in many burials throughout the site. The black vulture was also an important animal of religious life at Pacatnamu; its bones are often found with mass burials associated with ritualistic killings.Specialization
Many of the buildings show detailed specialization, especially where it was necessary to specialize in making bricks. Textiles are very important to this society; they often show great specialization because of the varied array of weaving patterns and symbols. There are textiles found at almost every burial site. Also many buildings in the compound show use of textiles or evidence of textiles being made in the building itself. Pacatnamu has the largest number of Moche textiles found to date. There is also evidence for bead and copper specialization. The textile business was completely dominated by the elite families, who all specialized in, to some degree, textile production.Usually the peoples associated with being master fishermen were only part-time specialists because their households were usually found outside of the city walls and their refuse piles show an even variation between shellfish and other marine life and wildly collected plants. This suggests that these people spent equal time in fields and in the water working to supply the higher classes with food, but also trying to collect food for themselves.
Artifacts and agriculture
Architecture
Scholars disagree about what architectural style is most represented at Pacatnamu. The Moche and Chimu peoples are the two most usually associated with this site, but recently the Lambayeque group has been associated with Pacatnamu. Most of the archaeologists who work at Pacatnamu study the extensive wall system and the many huacas, truncated pyramids with mound top structures. The largest Huaca is the compound Huaca 1, located in the central portion of the site. The site features many distinctions between right and left entrances.Apparently this right-left dichotomy is found in many Chimu sites. The right hand entrances in Pacatnamu are more elaborate and easily accessible while the left is usually filled with debris and more closed off, leading to more domestic buildings where evidence of food preparation has been found. The right side has then been more associated with ceremonial uses and/ or administrative purposes. The architecture is more concerned with visual perception and movement rather than function also leading scholars to believe the site was a religious center and not one intended for normal living conditions.
- Huaca 1
- Major quadrangle
- Complex A
- Audiencia
- Complex E
- Funerary mound
- Huaca 31 & associated structures
Leadership and inequality
There are no sources indicating that the site of Pacatnamu had a centralized government or leadership system, therefore many archaeologists believe Pacatnamu was a part of a greater civilization. Later periods of occupation show the residence building defensive walls, but later research into those walls suggests that while one main reason for their construction is defense it isn't the only reason. The walls have many functions, but there needed many hands to help build them, so their construction may be because a lord or king asked for them to be built and sent peasants to do the labor.
The building of the sites many walls suggests that there was an actual need for defense or whoever controlled the site perceived a threat, either way there have to be an army to help defend the city should it be attacked. While there is no documentation of a physical army or a battle happening at Pacatnamu the walls suggest that a height standing person asked for them because they could with their status and therefore there must have also been an army to help protect those walls.
The architecture of the site has been studied extensively and many of the large courtyards throughout the site have a right-left oriented structure. For Pacatnamu the more grandiose buildings with more ceremonial artifacts are found down hallways towards the right while down the left side hallways we find more debris less monumental structures. These left side hallways usually lead to areas that were used for storage or food preparation. The main monumental pyramid, Huaca 1, is surrounded by high walls that completely block the view of the mound from view, these walls have been speculated to keep those who were not allowed to know about or join in on the ceremonies, so this creates a hierarchy of those who can participate and know what's going on and those who cannot. The variation of artifacts throughout the site indicates that those of higher rank had more specialized and unique items and more complex architectural buildings were as the commoners had non-monumental structures and less fine wear beads and textiles.
Many of the studied burials at Pacatnamu have many grave goods such as, textiles, ceramics, sacrifices, copper and more. There isn't much differentiation between burials in terms of what's found in them, but some people are buried closer to ceremonial buildings like Huaca 1 and there are some people actually buried within the pyramid itself so that sets them apart from other people. All the burials at Pacatnamu have textiles, which were very important to this culture, ceramics, and copper. Lama sacrifices were important for ceremonies and are rare to find in burials, but there is evidence of this. The textiles found rage in their preservation and the overall quality of the item, the most impressive textiles are associated with people with more status, but there isn't anything else in the burials alerting us to the person’s identity.
Many of the burials at Pacatnamu have been looted so many of the skeletons have been badly damaged. In many all that kind be determined is the age of the person, but not their sex. Around the entrance of Huaca 1 is found a mass burial of mutilated young men. There are three separate burials all on top of one another; each burial was done at a different time. All 14 of the bodies found are of men around the age of 14, many of them died by multiple stab wounds to the chest and back region and it's speculated that multiple people did the stabbing. It's hard to determine why exactly these individuals met with this end, but it may have been part of a ceremony because it's obvious these individuals were not chosen at random. According to ethnohistoric evidence we know that some people accused of rebellion in Incan culture had many different punishments and many of these individuals share these injuries.