Eating Empire in the Jequetepeque: A Local View of Chimu Expansion on the North Coast of Peru

This article focuses on the local experienceof the pre-Inka Chimuacute empire conquestSpecifically I investigate the extent to

which Chimuacute conquest and administration re-shaped rural life in the provinces Did the Chimuacutereorganize daily life in conquered households ashas been documented in some Inka cases If sodid households respond to conquest by alteringsome dimensions of daily practice while conserv-ing others Or is this conquest better describedas a reorientation of authority and allegiance atthe upper levels of the sociopolitical hierarchywith minimal effect on rural communities

In order to address these questions I approachlocal rural life through the lens of daily culinary

practice Food production preparation and con-sumption constitute one realm of daily life wherethe cultural political and economic effects ofconquest might be experienced in archaeologi-cally visible ways Thus every day activitiessuch as eating and cooking can serve as a win-dow into the varied experiences of Chimuacute con-quest I focus on the case of Pedregal a ruralagricultural village in the lower JequetepequeValley that was conquered by the Chimuacute duringtheir first wave of expansion to the north circaAD 1320 Before turning to the evidence fromPedregal I first discuss the archaeology of cui-sine and imperial expansion and provide a broadsynthesis of classic and recent research on Chimuacute

EATING EMPIRE IN THE JEQUETEPEQUE A LOCAL VIEW OF CHIMUacute EXPANSION ON

THE NORTH COAST OF PERU

Robyn E Cutright

As the Chimuacute empire (ca AD 900ndash1470) expanded along the north coast of Peru it employed a mix of direct and indirectstrategies to administer conquered populations In order to investigate the extent to which Chimuacute conquest reshaped dailylife in the provinces I explore evidence from Pedregal a rural farming village in the Jequetepeque Valley I use cuisine asa window onto daily life at Pedregal in order to construct a ldquoview from the kitchenrdquo of Chimuacute expansion Excavation datafrom Pedregal households indicate that production of agricultural staples such as corn and cotton intensified during theChimuacute period but that while the focus of household culinary practice shifted the overall range of household activitiesremained the same The Chimuacute seem to have been able to establish political control and intensify agricultural productionin conquered provinces without a radical reorganization of rural domestic economies These findings have implications notonly for emerging models of Chimuacute imperial expansion but also for our understanding of how household-level change andcontinuity are articulated with regional political and economic processes

Cuando el imperio chimuacute (900ndash1470 dC) se expandioacute para controlar la costa norte del Peruacute empleoacute una mezcla de estrategiasdirectas e indirectas para administrar las poblaciones conquistadas Para investigar coacutemo la conquista chimuacute cambioacute la vidacotidiana en las provincias este artiacuteculo presenta evidencia de Pedregal una comunidad rural agriacutecola del valle de Jeque-tepeque y plantea construir una ldquovista desde la cocinardquo de la expansioacuten chimuacute Los datos de excavacioacuten de la zona domeacutesticade Pedregal indican que la produccioacuten de maiacutez y algodoacuten se intensificoacute a lo largo del periodo chimuacute sin embargo mientrasque el enfoque de la praacutectica culinaria domeacutestica cambioacute la variedad de actividades domeacutesticas se mantuvo constante Loschimuacute parecen haber sido capaces de establecer el control poliacutetico e intensificar la agricultura en las provincias conquistadassin una reorganizacioacuten radical de la economiacutea domeacutestica rural Estos resultados son importantes no solamente en cuanto aun modelo nuevo para la expansioacuten chimuacute sino tambieacuten en cuanto a nuestras ideas sobre las articulaciones entre el cambioy la continuidad al nivel domeacutestico y los procesos poliacuteticos y econoacutemicos al nivel regional

Robyn E Cutright Department of Anthropology and Sociology Centre College Danville KY 40422 (robyncutrightcentreedu)

Latin American Antiquity 26(1) 2014 pp 64ndash86Copyright copy 2015 by the Society for American Archaeology

DOI 1071831045-663526164

64

Cutright] EATING EMPIRE IN THE JEQUETEPEQUE 65

expansion and administration of conqueredprovinces

An Archaeology of CuisineCuisine has recently emerged as a particularlyuseful construct through which to explore a broadrange of sociocultural processes (eg Bray 2003Dietler and Hayden 2001 Graff and Rodriacuteguez-Alegriacutea 2012 Gumerman 1997 Hayden and Vil-leneuve 2011 Mintz and DuBois 2002 Twiss2007) Of particular relevance here the study ofcuisine can bring into focus household-basedgendered responses to overarching politico-eco-nomic settings (Hastorf 1991 Klarich 2010)

Cuisine has often been conceptualized as rela-tively conservative and resistant to change (Crown2000) even today home cooking is a touchstonefor nostalgia tradition and identity Hastorf(201269) suggests that the daily habitus of cook-ing helped to transmit and maintain social cohe-sion and may have been a powerful force behindlong-term cultural continuity in the early Neolithicvillage of Ccedilatalhoumlyuumlk Lightfoot et alrsquos (1998)investigation of daily culinary activities in colonialnorthern California reveals that ideals related togender cuisine and the organization of domesticlabor were reproduced in daily practice and pro-vides evidence that these ideals helped buffer theimpact of broader external change

Despite arguments for culinary conservatismhouseholds articulate with regional cultural po-litical and economic dynamics through daily culi-nary practice In some cases household culinaryactivities become the basis for increasing urbanismand social complexity For example Ur and Colan-toni (2010) argue that decentralized localprocesses including choices about how to pro-duce prepare and serve food were at least asimportant as top-down elite control in intensifyingagriculture and urbanism in northern Mesopotamiain the third millennium BC In this bottom-upview households are articulated with wider socialprocesses because such processes are an aggregateof local household decisions

But this is not the only way in which cuisineand wider sociopolitical dynamics are linkedProcesses such as imperial expansion take placeabove the level of the household but householddecisions often respond to the pressures and op-

portunities that exist at a regional level (DrsquoAltroyand Hastorf 2001 Wilk 1991) Brumfiel (1991)for instance argues that Late Aztec cuisine shiftedbecause of the domestic scheduling tradeoffs intime and labor necessary to meet state demandsfor tribute Cases such as this suggest that do-mestic culinary practice can be sensitive to large-scale social dynamics and thus represents a par-ticularly interesting window onto processes suchas conquest and interaction In this article I adopta ldquoview from the kitchenrdquo in order to investigateChimuacute impact on local households in the Jequete-peque Valley of coastal Peru

Local Perspectives on Imperial ExpansionAncient empires employed various strategies tocontrol conquered populations including militaryforce political reorganization and ideologicalmanipulation Control could be exerted directlyby applying force investing heavily in infrastruc-ture and imposing state administrative controlor more indirectly by using local hierarchies andemphasizing ideological control or at some pointalong a continuum between more direct and moreindirect forms of domination (DrsquoAltroy 1992Hassig 1985 Smith 2004 Stanish 1992) Strate-gies varied according to the needs of the statethe desirable resources available in each provincethe existing level of sociopolitical complexity inthe conquered territory its distance from the im-perial heartland and the response of the localpopulation (Morrison 2001 Schreiber 1987 Si-nopoli 1994) The administration of a particularprovince could also change through time accord-ing to the priorities of the empire or the situationon the ground

The Inka are well known for taking advantageof local hierarchies and existing systems of reci-procal obligation to rule indirectly famously en-suring ldquothat the larder of the peasant remain un-touchedrdquo (Murra 198479) In some instanceshowever the impact of imperial conquest on localpopulations was dramatic In the Mantaro Valleyfor instance Inka rule altered settlement patternsand land use to increase maize production andreached into local households to reshape genderroles and the domestic economy (DrsquoAltroy andHastorf 2001 Hastorf 1991) In other provincesthe Inka applied a mix of strategies to different

dimensions of the local sociopolitical and eco-nomic context often drawing on existing socialgroupings and territorial divisions to reorganizeand control provincial populations negotiatingpower with local elites but also investing heavilyin state infrastructure

Rather than simply being dictated from the topimperial administration and its impact on localpopulations were shaped by the complex interplaybetween the strategies of provincial populationsfactional competition within ancient empires localpolitical and economic dynamics and the goalsof administrators (Schreiber 2005 Sinopoli 1994Stark and Chance 2012 Stein 2002) From a ldquobot-tom-uprdquo perspective non-elite rural populationsresponded to regional political and economicchange based on the demands imposed by the re-gional system but also on internal processes andpriorities within households According to Fal-conerrsquos (1995) analysis for example rural house-holds in the Bronze Age village of Tell el-Hayyatin Jordan demonstrated considerable flexibility infood production during the growth of regional ur-ban systems Households produced more of someresources in order to participate in regional mar-kets but also adopted strategies oriented towardmaintaining ideals of autonomy and self-suffi-ciency at the household and community levelsRural households then may sometimes resist fullincorporation into regional systems choosing toensure long-term survival rather than maximizeeconomic benefits (Wilk 1991)

Household life can also change independentlyof regional or state trajectories The case ofLukurmata (Bermann 1994) in the Bolivian alti-plano shows that dynamics that appear significantat a regional level may not transform rural house-holds at all and conversely that not all householdchange occurs as a reaction to regional processesLukurmata households were not reorganized uponintegration into the Tiwanaku polity and onlylater adopted new forms of domestic productionand community organization While the range ofhousehold activities remained relatively stablehousehold architecture and allocation of spacechanged through time (Bermann 1994238) Ingeneral local responses to imperial expansionare complex They may be articulated throughexisting cultural traditions or buffered by extra-household institutions and in general are likely

to be shaped by processes internal to householdsand communities as well as by the demands ofimperial administrators In the next section I ex-amine the archaeological evidence for Chimuacute im-perial expansion administrative strategies andtheir effects on local populations

The Chimuacute EmpireAround AD 900 the Chimuacute state coalesced inthe Moche Valley on the north coast of Peru (Fig-ure 1 Campana 2006 Moseley and Cordy-Collins 1990 Moseley and Day 1982 Ravines1980 Rowe 1948) Chimuacute society is typicallyunderstood as highly complex and centralizedAt the Chimuacute capital Chan Chan lower-classworkshops and residences for a population ofperhaps 30000 clustered around 10 high-walledadobe palaces or ciudadelas which were con-structed according to a strict architectural canonthat emphasized social control restricted accessto ritual administration and bureaucracy andstorage of bulk goods (Day 1982 Moore 1992Topic 2003 Uceda 1997) The activities of inter-mediate elites and lower-class craftspeople atChan Chan were oriented toward royal consump-tion and likely dependent on state support (Kolata1983 Topic 1982)

Outside of Chan Chan the population of theMoche Valley functioned under a tight adminis-trative hierarchy to produce food and to completestate-sponsored construction projects (Keatinge1975 Pozorski 1979 1982) Irrigated fields werefarmed intensively by residents of Chan Chanand rural sustaining villages under the supervisionof rural administrative centers (Keatinge 19751982 Moseley and Deeds 1982) On the basis ofa set of botanical and faunal samples from MocheValley sites Pozorski (1982) argues that farmersand other workers depended on a state redistrib-ution system to supply them with meat and othergoods Overall evidence from the Moche Valleyand the adjacent Chicama Valley (Pillsbury andLeonard 2004) suggests strong centralized controlover production distribution and consumptionin the Chimuacute heartland Chimuacute Imperial ExpansionAfter consolidating its heartland the Chimuacute stateexpanded to control a wide swath of the north

66 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol 26 No 1 2015

coast by the time of Inka conquest around AD1470 Because they conquered and incorporatedculturally and politically distinct polities suchas the Late Sicaacuten to the north and the Casma tothe south and because these areas retained someaspects of their distinctive cultural identity andeven autonomy after conquest (eg Mackey2011) the Chimuacute are a clear example of an An-dean empire (Sinopoli 1994)

Early work on the Chimuacute described a multi-stage expansion process beginning around AD1200 and emphasized the direct control and cen-tralized administration of conquered provinces

(Keatinge and Conrad 1983 Topic 1990) Conrad(1981) argued that a system of split inheritancedrove later Chimuacute rulers to conquer new territoryoutside the heartland On the other hand Kolata(1990135) suggested that the state reoriented itsextractive economy from heartland agriculturalproduction toward external expansion after a largeEl Nintildeo (ENSO) event around AD 1100 resultedin catastrophic destruction of irrigation canalsIn both arguments desire to control agriculturallyproductive regions in nearby valleys drove Chimuacuteimperial expansion

More recently Mackey (2009 Moore and


Figure 1 The north coast of Peru showing phases of Chimuacute imperial expansion and sites mentioned in the text Redrawnand adapted from Moore and Mackey (2008)

Mackey 2008) has employed a later date forChimuacute expansion placing its beginning after AD1300 and has argued that the Chimuacute employed amix of direct and indirect strategies in conqueredprovinces Mackey (2009341) suggests that theChimuacute were most interested in establishing con-trol over territory trade routes and key resourcessuch as copper and Spondylus They accom-plished this by placing state personnel and ad-ministrative architecture at provincial centers andintrusive settlements rather than intervening atthe village level Mackey also argues that the areaof consolidated Chimuacute rule did not extend fromTumbes to the Chilloacuten Valley as early researchersthought Instead the Chimuacute controlled a morerestricted territory from the lower La Leche tothe Casma Valleys (Figure 1)

In the classic model the Chimuacute empire had ahighly centralized economy and exerted strongpolitical control over conquered territoriesNonetheless new research from the provinceshas disputed this model and emphasized the un-even nature of Chimuacute provincial rule Tschauner(2001 2008) argues that Chimuacute political controlover the Lambayeque Valley was reinforced byintrusive hilltop settlements where Chimuacute admin-istrators and local elites lived and hosted guestsNonetheless he finds no evidence that craft pro-duction especially of utilitarian goods was cen-tralized or controlled by the Chimuacute or that Chimuacuteadministrators were participating in an Inka-stylelabor tax by redistributing state goods to localworkers In Tschaunerrsquos analysis political con-quest was not reinforced by economic controlover production especially at the local level

Also in the Lambayeque region Hayashida(2006) finds evidence for Chimuacute reorganizationof agricultural production and daily life at the lo-cal level Her survey of the agriculturally richPampa de Chaparriacute shows that the stable locallymanaged irrigation system in place during theMiddle and Late Sicaacuten periods was transformedduring Chimuacute and later Inka rule Changes werevisible at multiple scales including a shift in set-tlement patterns suggesting centralized controlover the most productive parts of the system theimposition of administrative centers a move fromseparate household structures to combined do-mestic compounds and even the construction ofexclusive walled fields by the Chimuacute-Inka period

(Hayashida 2006 Tellez and Hayashida 2004)Even within the Lambayeque region the effectof Chimuacute conquest on local production and do-mestic life was uneven

Farther south in the Jequetepeque ValleyMackeyrsquos (2006 2009 2011) work at the Chimuacuteprovincial administrative center of Farfaacuten sug-gests that the Chimuacute made little effort to sharepower with local lords Instead they destroyedan existing Lambayeque compound placed twosacrificed women on the foundations and thenbuilt their own compound on top (Mackey2009339) The Chimuacute also imposed an adminis-trative center at a key point for canal control atthe valley neck (Keatinge and Conrad 1983) andengaged in large-scale projects to expand and re-inforce irrigation networks ultimately intensify-ing agricultural production in the valley (Dillehayand Kolata 2004) At San Joseacute de Moro theyproduced large quantities of maize beer (chicha)for consumption at the adjacent administrativecenter of El Algarrobal de Moro (Mackey 2004Prieto 2011) Nonetheless Swensonrsquos (2007)analysis of hinterland ceremonial centers suggeststhat local elites manipulated imperial architecturalsymbols while maintaining a degree of politicalcontrol and autonomy Sapprsquos (2011) work at theelite residence of Cabur also suggests that reor-ganization at lower levels of the political hierar-chy was minimal under the Chimuacute As in theLambayeque region Chimuacute impact on the restof the valley was felt unevenly

South of the Moche Valley researchers findsimilarly mixed evidence for the impact of Chimuacuteconquest Vogel (2012a) argues that prior toChimuacute expansion the Chao Valley representedthe northern frontier of the Casma polity As theChimuacute state began to coalesce elites at the ChaoValley site of Cerro la Cruz incorporated someChimuacute stylistic elements into their pottery but stillmaintained an independent identity Ultimatelythe Chimuacute conquered the Chao Valley and Cerrola Cruz was intentionally burnt and ritually closed(Vogel 2012a177) suggesting that here Chimuacuteconquest significantly impacted local settlementpatterns at least at the top of the settlement hier-archy The Casma polity center of El Purgatoriowas abandoned after Chimuacute arrival in the CasmaValley late in the fourteenth century (Vogel2012b) when power shifted to the Chimuacute provin-


cial center of Manchan New Chimuacute-period set-tlements in the Casma were concentrated in theagriculturally productive lower valley suggestingthat the Chimuacute were interested in intensifyingagricultural production (Mackey and Klymyshyn1990) However Moore (1985) found a lack ofstate control over the lower-class population atManchan and Koschmieder (2004 Koschmiederand Vega Centeno 1996) argues that hybridity andcultural fusion rather than directly imposed con-trol characterized the relationship between Chimuacuteadministrators and local populations at the ad-ministrative site of Puerto Pobre

Recent research outside the Chimuacute heartlandhas called into question the extent of centralizedcontrol over production and local populations ex-erted by the Chimuacute state apparatus Specificallythe Chimuacute seem to have made highly visible po-litical statements by altering settlement patternsand establishing provincial administrative centersin conquered valleys but aside from intensifyingagricultural production exerted little economiccontrol over lower-class populations The caseof Pedregal supports this emerging view of Chimuacuteadministration as an uneven mosaic of direct andindirect strategies Pedregal and the Jequetepeque ValleyEnvironmental Setting The Jequetepeque Riverflows west from the foothills of the Andes across

a dry coastal plain to the Pacific Ocean (Figure2) At the valley neck the relatively restrictedvalley walls abruptly widen out and give way tothe flatter more open lower valley Because ofthe low annual rainfall averaging less than 30mmyear lower valley agriculture depends onextensive networks of irrigation canals (Eling1987) Water availability fluctuates seasonallybased on rainfall in the adjacent highlands butthe large flow volume of the Jequetepeque River(945 million m3 per year compared to 321 millionin the Moche Valley [Wilson 198818]) allowedprehispanic residents to farm one of the largercultivable areas on the north coast (Eling1987107) Because the Jequetepeque flows year-round prehispanic farmers could have harvestedtwo crops per year Beyond the irrigated flood-plains are sand dunes dotted with sparse vegeta-tion and isolated thickets of trees and shrubs suchas zapote (Capparis angulata) faique (Acaciamacracantha) and algarrobo (Prosopis sp)

The north coast of Peru is also rich in marineresources Diverse marine and littoral habitatsincluding rocky and sandy intertidal and estuarinezones shading into the deep open waters of thePacific provide access to a wide range of fishand shellfish species within a relatively short dis-tance The cold Humboldt Current which runsnorth along the Pacific coast of South Americamakes offshore waters extremely abundant in fish


Figure 2 The lower Jequetepeque Valley

and other marine life Despite the occasional en-vironmental disruptions of El Nintildeo large prehis-panic populations flourished in this area of thecoast during the Late Intermediate period (LIP)(AD 1000ndash1300) The high levels of food pro-duction possible in the Jequetepeque may havemade it an enticing target for Chimuacute expansionCulture History During the first half of the

LIP the Jequetepeque Valley was occupied bythe complex Lambayeque polity Pacatnamuacute(Donnan and Cock 1997) sat at the apex of a set-tlement hierarchy that included secondary admin-istrative sites like Farfaacuten (Mackey 2009 2011)residences of local elites at San Joseacute de Moro(Prieto 2010) and Cabur (Sapp 2011) the middlevalley border outpost of Ventanillas (Cutright andCervantes 2012) and agricultural villages suchas Pedregal (Cutright 2009 2010) Some haveargued that during this period the Jequetepequewas controlled by an expansive Sicaacuten state cen-tered in the LambayequeLa Leche valleys to thenorth (Castillo 2001 Prieto 2010 Shimada 2000)Nonetheless local variation in architecture set-tlement patterns and material culture suggest ahigh level of indigenous autonomy despite cul-tural and economic ties with the north (Mackey2009 2011 Sapp 2011) For this reason I usethe term Sicaacuten to refer to the Middle and LateSicaacuten centralized states that controlled the Lam-bayequendashLa Leche Valley region until Chimuacuteconquest ca AD 1375 (Shimada 1985 2000)and Lambayeque to refer to the wider culturalphenomenon (after Zevallos 1971) and its ex-pression in the Jequetepeque Valley

Around AD 1320 the Jequetepeque was con-quered in what Spanish chroniclers later recordedas a bloody battle (Calancha 1982 [1638] Mackey2009) There is no evidence for a large-scalemovement of Moche Valley colonists into the val-ley Nonetheless Chimuacute conquest marked a cleartransition in the political structure of the Jequete-peque Valley Pacatnamuacute was abandoned and po-litical focus shifted to Farfaacuten where existing ar-chitecture was razed new administrativecompounds were constructed according to impe-rial architectural canons and members of theChimuacute royalty arrived to administer the movementof people goods and information through thevalley (Mackey 2009 2011) As discussed aboveland use settlement patterns and agricultural

strategies changed after Chimuacute conquest (Dillehayand Kolata 2004 Keatinge and Conrad 1983) IfChimuacute rule reshaped life in provincial householdswe should expect to see clear changes in the ruraldomestic economy in the Jequetepeque as house-holds adapted to new tribute demands and expe-rienced the reorganization and intensification ofagricultural production in the valley In order toinvestigate whether this was the case I conductedexcavations at the rural village site of Pedregal in2006 (Cutright 2009 2010)The Community of Pedregal Pedregal is a 5-

ha multicomponent site with diagnostic materialsspanning the Moche to Inka periods (ca AD500ndash1500) It is one of a string of villages stretch-ing along the Pampa de Faclo from the Lam-bayeque center of Pacatnamuacute east to Farfaacuten over-looking the irrigated river bottom (Hecker andHecker 1990) The eastern portion of the Pampade Faclo was irrigated in antiquity and relic fieldsand canals are still visible (Eling 1987) Pedregalis located less than 5 km from the primary Chimuacutecenter of Farfaacuten and adjacent to rich agriculturallands If Chimuacute rule did reshape local productionor daily household practice such impacts wouldlikely have been felt at Pedregal because of itsproximity to valley centers its role in agriculturalproduction and its participation in cultural tradi-tions and economic networks at the regional scale(Cutright 2013)

During the LIP Pedregal was a 29-ha villagewith a cluster of households and a small area ofpublic architecture flanked by cemeteries (Figure3) The public area (Sectors B and C) drew onlocal LIP architectural canons (Swenson 2007)and included two low platform mounds at theend of a rectangular enclosure The residentialarea consisted of six rectangular agglutinated do-mestic compounds to the south of the public area(Sector A) During the Inka period an intervalleyroad ran through the site cutting through one ofthe platforms and a household compound Inmodern times an airstrip partially destroyed therectangular enclosure and the platforms andcemeteries were extensively looted

In 2006 two 3-x-3-m units and severalsmaller 1-x-1-m test pits were excavated in eachof three domestic compounds at Pedregal (Figure3) Test units were also placed in other sectorsof the site but are discussed elsewhere (Cutright


2009 2010 2013) Because the excavation strat-egy was designed to investigate changes throughtime in household activities and culinary practiceat Pedregal large horizontal excavation areaswere not opened and so the data do not speakclearly to the contemporaneous spatial organi-zation of household activities However the ver-tical excavation strategy makes it possible tocompare the two major occupational momentsthat were clearly visible during excavation The

later occupation was associated with the stonearchitecture visible on the surface while an ear-lier occupation extended to approximately a me-ter below the surface architecture and corre-sponded to a set of architectural features with aslightly different north-south orientation Bothoccupations consisted of superimposed livingfloors containing features such as hearthsbenches and storage pits interspersed with layersof artifact-dense fill


Figure 3 The Late Intermediate period (LIP) occupation of Pedregal showing excavated units in Sector A

Occupation of these domestic compoundsdates to the Chimuacute period ca AD 1320ndash1470(Cutright 2013) Initial surface evaluation andmapping of Pedregal suggested a mixed Lam-bayeque and Chimuacute occupation and it was hopedthat these earlier and later moments of domesticoccupation would correspond to periods beforeand after Chimuacute conquest of the valley Excava-tion data confirm that Pedregal was occupied dur-ing the Lambayeque period A radiocarbon dateon cornstalks in platform fill had a two-sigmacalibrated range of AD 1225ndash1381 (all datescalibrated with OxCal v415 [Bronk Ramsey2010] using the Southern Hemisphere Atmos-pheric Curve [McCormac et al 2004] seeCutright 20137 and Blake et al 2012) which

could place it on either side of Chimuacute conquestof the Lambayeque around AD 1320 Based onadobe chronologies from Pacatnamuacute (McClelland1986) construction in the public sector likely be-gan before Chimuacute conquest

Nonetheless the break between earlier andlater architectural phases in the domestic com-pounds does not likely correspond to Chimuacute ar-rival in the valley Precise dating on the basis ofceramic typologies is complicated by the persis-tence of Lambayeque utilitarian styles such aspaddle-stamped ollas into the Inka period andthe scarcity of diagnostic Imperial Chimuacute andChimuacute-Inka fineware in nonelite contexts (Figure4) In Pedregal households some characteristicChimuacute blackware ceramics such as flat-bottomed


Figure 4 Selected domestic ceramics from Pedregal

plates and small press-molded carinated ollas(Prieto 2008) were present at similar frequenciesin both the earlier and later domestic occupationsTwo radiocarbon dates from the earlier domesticoccupation fall in the Chimuacute period with two-sigma calibrated ranges of AD 1388ndash1445 andAD 1401ndash1462 respectively (Cutright 2013Table 1) Thus the households excavated at Pe-dregal most likely were inhabited during theChimuacute period though the community itself ex-isted before Chimuacute arrival in the valley

Local Experience of Chimuacute Rule A View from the Kitchen

I argue that changes in household activities fromthe earlier to the later occupational moment reflectthe strategies of elite administrators and local res-idents in the context of Chimuacute imperialism Whilethe clear break between the earlier and later do-mestic occupations at Pedregal does not neatlycorrespond to the transition from Lambayequeto Chimuacute control over the valley a pattern of di-achronic changes in household activities over thecourse of Chimuacute occupation does emerge In thissection I will focus on changes that relate to foodproduction processing and consumption in Pe-dregal households If Chimuacute administrators wereinterested in extracting staple agricultural re-sources from conquered valleys then increasedproduction of maize cotton and other bulk sta-ples should be visible in the botanical assem-blages of sites such as Pedregal Intensificationof some kinds of production might influence thebroader range of household activities especiallyif the Chimuacute pulled rural villages into state-spon-sored distribution networks as they did in theMoche Valley heartland (Pozorski 1979 1982)or reshaped local production as Hayashida (2006)documents farther north Changes in householdactivity patterns would be visible in emphasis ondifferent kinds of plant or animal foods a reduc-tion in dietary diversity or the appearance ofmore standardized or state-produced goods Fi-nally households may have made trade-offs inother realms of household life to support a greaterlabor investment in production for the state as inthe Aztec case discussed above (Brumfiel 1991)Household size or the efficiency of food prepa-ration techniques could have been adjusted to

compensate for household investment in laborintensive crop processing activities In the nextsection I evaluate the artifactual botanical andfaunal evidence for these potential impacts in thecontext of the ecological and cultural setting ofPedregal Agricultural Production and HouseholdSubsistence in the JequetepequeIn order to reconstruct subsistence practices atPedregal I look first at the foods procured byhouseholds Isotopic analysis of skeletal remainswas not possible as no human remains werefound in secure contexts This discussion is basedon analysis of macrobotanical faunal and shellremains recovered in the field from quarter-inchscreens and in the lab from three-liter soil sam-ples taken from each excavation context Soilsamples were screened through half-inch andquarter-inch sieves and then 1 liter of each wasfurther screened through 1 mm and 5 mm meshfollowing the protocol used by Gumerman (1991)at Pacatnamuacute Subsistence remains were stan-dardized by volume to calculate densities andalso quantified according to ubiquity and propor-tion Remains were analyzed on the basis of com-parative collections by project members and atthe ARQUEOBIOS lab (Vazquez and Rosales2007) A few ceramic sherds were tested for starchgrains but the most systematic analysis relies onmacroremains of plants and animals

Faunal remains were quantified by MinimumNumber of Individuals (MNI) and Number ofIdentified Specimens (NISP) but due to the frag-mentation of the assemblage and the small samplesizes from some contexts NISP proved the mosteffective basis for comparison Botanical remainswere quantified by total number of identifiedparts Differences in caloric contribution andpreservation of both plants and animals mean thatthe proportion of the assemblage made up of aparticular species does not necessarily representthe contribution of that species to diet in astraightforward way (Lennstrom and Hastorf1995 Pearsall 2000) In this article I use mea-sures of density ubiquity and relative proportionsto counter the effects of sampling bias and chartshifts in subsistence through time

Pedregal residents consumed agricultural prod-ucts marine and littoral species terrestrial fauna


and wild plants (Figure 5 Table 1) Cultigenssuch as maize beans chiles sweet potato andsquash formed the basis of Pedregal diet Thesewere complemented by tree fruits such asguanaacutebana avocado and luacutecuma which wouldhave grown around the irrigated margins of fieldsand by wild species such as algarrobo and sea-weed Pedregal residents raised camelids guineapigs (cuy) and dogs for household consumptionShellfish were foraged from rocky and sandyshores near the mouth of the Jequetepeque RiverThe fish assemblage was dominated by twospecies Paralonchurus peruanus (Peruviancroaker or suco) and Engraulis ringens (an-choveta) Both fish and shellfish assemblageswere diverse suggesting that Pedregal residentswere opportunistic in their consumption of theseresources despite their reliance on a few econom-ically significant species

Pedregal residents likely specialized in farm-ing based on the density of crop remains pres-ence of farming tools and their production at thesite and proximity to irrigated field systems It

is unclear whether residents would have beensupplied with marine resources through state re-distribution exchange with local specialists ortheir own procurement efforts but the diversityof fish and shellfish species suggests some com-bination of the latter two Nonetheless crop pro-cessing remains suggest that Pedregal householdswere intensively engaged in producing agricul-tural staples likely in part for state tribute net-worksCrop Processing and Production for TributeModels of Chimuacute expansion and provincial ad-ministration as well as settlement pattern evidencefrom the Jequetepeque suggest that the Chimuacutewere interested in intensifying the production ofbulk staples such as maize and cotton Theseproducts could be stored transformed into chichaand cloth and used to support state work partiesand elite festivities at the provincial center ofFarfaacuten If this was the case then production andprocessing of these crops should have increasedthrough time at rural villages like Pedregal


Figure 5 Primary plant and animal resources in Pedregal assemblages by habitat


Table 1 Botanical and Faunal Assemblages at the Overall Site and in the Early and Late LIP Domestic Occupations

of site faunal of early faunal of late faunalSpecies Common name NISP (n = 1867) NISP (n = 390) NISP (n = 354)Mammal 933 935 977Lama sp llamaalpaca 463 359 452Cavia porcellus guinea pigcuy 193 30 342Muridae rodent 61 38 31Canis familiaris dog 31 33 42Odocoileus virginiana deer 2 0 3unidentified mammal 183 205 107Bird 21 28 6Larus sp gull 4 3 1Phalacrocorax sp cormorant 3 5 4unidentified bird 15 2 1Reptileamphibian 33 36 17Iguana sp iguana 16 1 6Bufo sp toad 4 0 0Dicrodon sp lizardcantildean 4 16 5unidentified reptile 9 1 6Otherunidentified 13 0 0Total 100 100 100

of site fish of early fish of late fishSpecies Common name NISP (n = 1254) NISP (n = 441) NISP (n = 199)Paralonchurus peruanus Peruvian banded croakersuco 441 333 643Engraulis ringens anchoveta 37 578 291Sardinops sagax sagax sardinesardina 43 36 0Cynoscion analis Peruvian weakfishcachema 16 7 15Sciaena deliciosa lorna 14 11 2Merluccius gayi peruanus hakemerluza 1 7 1Galeichthys peruvianus catfishbagre 8 15 5Rhinobatos planiceps Pacific guitarfishguitarra 6 0 5Stellifer minor minor stardrum 5 5 0Trachurus symmetricus murphyi jack mackeraljurel 5 0 1Mustelus sp sharktollo 2 0 0Mugil cephalus flathead mulletlisa 2 0 0Sciaena sp 2 0 0Caulolatilus cabezon ocean whitefishpeje blanco 2 5 0Labrisomus philippii trambollo 1 0 0Isurus oxyrhynchus shortfin makomaco 1 0 0Unidentified fish 72 3 1Total 100 100 100

of site shellfish of early shellfish of late shellfishSpecies Common name MNI (n = 16100) MNI (n = 3055) MNI (n = 3668)Gastropods 646 656 517Polinices uber 389 40 275Prisogaster niger 118 12 109Thais haemastoma 39 4 36Xanthochorus buxea 31 3 36Nassarius dentifer 25 22 32Thais chocolata 22 21 16Tegula atra 8 14 4Olivella columellaris 7 3 lt1Scutalus proteus 4 3 5Sinum cymba 2 lt1 2Mitra orientalis 1 2 1Fissurella maxima 1 1 1


Xanthochorus broderipii lt1 0 lt1Bivalves 347 335 475Donax obesulus 336 32 463Protothaca thaca 5 6 1Choromytilus chorus 5 8 24Argopecten pupuratum lt1 1 lt1Semimytilus algosus lt1 0 0Perumytilus purpuratus lt1 lt1 0Semele corrugada lt1 0 lt1Aulacomya ater lt1 lt1 0Crustaceans 7 9 6Platyxanthus orbignyi 6 8 6Balanus sp 1 1 0Total 100 100 100

of site plant of early plant of late plant Classification Common name parts (n = 20719) parts (n = 5780) parts (n = 2093)Annona muricata guanaacutebana 375 318 186Gossypium barbadense algodoacutencotton 146 183 278Zea mays maize cobs amp kernels 123 148 264Prosopis pallida algarrobomesquite 104 124 77Acacia sp espino 81 20 2Capiscum frutescens ajiacutechile pepper 51 92 53Lagenaria siceraria mategourd 39 28 40Phaseolus sp frijolbean 17 30 8Cucurbita sp zapallo squash 12 6 58Nectandra sp ishpingo 8 0 0Lucuma obovata luacutecuma 6 6 2Inga feuillei huabapacae 4 6 2Pithecellobium sp angolo 4 4 lt1Phaseolus vulgaris frijolbean 3 4 0Phaseolus lunatus pallarbean 2 3 3Neptunia sp 2 6 0Persea americana paltaavocado 2 lt1 1Canavalia maritima pallar de gentil 2 3 4Psidium guajava guayabaguava 3 3 1Erythroxylum coca coca 3 3 11Bunchiosa armeniaca ciruela de fraile 3 3 1Gynerium saggitatum cantildeacane 3 1 2Ipomoea batatas camotesweet potato 2 2 2Cenchrus echinatus cadillo 2 2 2Capparis ovalifolia guayabito de gentil 1 1 1Capparis angulata zapote 1 1 lt1Gigartina sp seaweed 1 2 0Phyla sp lt1 1 0Thevetia peruviana maichil lt1 lt1 0Spilanthes ureas turre macho lt1 lt1 0Equisettum giganteum cola de caballohorsetail lt1 lt1 0Arachis hypogaea maniacutepeanut lt1 lt1 1Crotalaria incana cascabelillo lt1 lt1 0Sapindus saponaria choloque lt1 0 0Solanum tuberosum papapotato present present presentTotal 100 100 100Note Botanical totals exclude unidentified parts and Zea mays parts other than cobs and kernels

Maize cobs and kernels made up a signifi-cantly greater proportion of the overall botanicalassemblage through time increasing from 15 per-cent in the early LIP to 26 percent in the late LIP(Table 2) Average density of maize parts in lateLIP samples increased as well though not sig-nificantly while maize ubiquity (the percent ofcontexts in which maize was identified) rose dra-matically Maize cobs also increased in averagesize slightly though significantly through timeSize was measured by counting the number ofcupules around the circumference of each coband multiplying by two Most cobs had either 8or 10 rows of kernels but cobs with 4 6 and 12rows were also recorded The proportion of cobswith 10 rows of kernels increased from 45 percentto 54 percent between the early and late LIP oc-cupation while the proportion of cobs with 8rows decreased from 52 percent to 42 percentThis difference is relatively small but statisticallysignificant (2 = 12994 df = 2 p = 002) Thegreater proportion of cobs with 10 kernels sug-gests that a shift toward maize varieties with agreater yield accompanied the increased focus onmaize in the late LIP but this shift was not dra-matic The overall picture that emerges from thesedata is one in which maize played a much morecentral role in household activities in the lateroccupation

Cotton also increased in proportion and aver-age density in the later LIP assemblage as com-pared to the early LIP (Table 2) but its ubiquitydeclined slightly This may suggest that cottonprocessing was somewhat more spatially re-stricted in the later occupation but the differenceis not great As emphasis on these crops increasedthe category of tree fruit which includesguanaacutebana guava luacutecuma and avocado de-creased in proportion (Table 2) They were moreubiquitous in household samples but average

density decreased In other words residents con-tinued to consume fruit during the later LIP butthese fruits were no longer as concentrated inhousehold refuse Domestic species in generalmade up a significantly greater proportion of thelater assemblage than the earlier one increasingfrom 63 percent of the early assemblage to 84percent of the later one (2 = 112936 df = 1 plt 0005) This evidence suggests that a decreasingfocus on wild species through time accompaniedthe heavier emphasis on cultivated staples

The botanical assemblage at Pedregal is bestunderstood as revealing trends in crop processingat the household level as opposed to directly re-flecting what people ate especially since it in-cludes many parts such as cotton seeds and husksmaize leaves stems and cobs and bean podsthat would have been separated from the edibleparts of the plants and discarded during process-ing (Hastorf 1990282) The data discussed abovesuggest an increased emphasis on agriculturalstaples in the later occupation but were Pedregalresidents increasingly focused on processingmaize and cotton for their own use or were someof these products extracted as tribute and trans-ported to storerooms at Farfaacuten

One way to chart the movement of maize asan item of exchange or of extracted tribute is bylooking at ratios of cobs to kernels (Gumerman1991 Welch and Scarry 1995) In the case of theMississippian chiefdom centered at MoundvilleWelch and Scarry (1995) found that samples fromrural villages near Moundville had fewer kernelsas compared to cob fragments than did the centerof Moundville They argue that higher cob-to-kernel ratios in villages show that maize was be-ing produced and processed in rural villages andthen supplied to the center as tribute Moundvillethus received maize kernels but not byproductslike cobs from its rural sustaining villages


Table 2 Comparison of Selected Botanical Categories in the Early and Late LIP

LIP chi-square Mean density t-test occupation n count Proportion on proportion (fragsL) on density Ubiquity

Maize early 5780 854 1476 sup2 = 142 p lt 0005 38 t = 747 3885 late 2093 553 2642 54 p = 456 6462Cotton early 5780 1055 1825 sup2 = 8517 p lt 0005 146 t = 152 5324 late 2093 582 2781 282 p = 13 4615 early 5780 1951 3375 sup2 = 14788 p lt 0005 77 t = 3209 5971

Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615

The mean density of kernels in Sector A soilsamples from Pedregal was 29liter while themean density of cobs was slightly greater at37liter for a cob-to-kernel ratio of 127 cobsker-nel (Figure 6) Using comparable methodsGumerman (1991) found on average 26 cob frag-ments per kernel at Lambayeque-period Pacat-namuacute (79 kernelsliter and 21 cobsliter) A com-parison of the two ratios suggests that Pedregalhouseholds were more heavily involved in pro-cessing maize while Pacatnamuacute householdstended to have fewer byproducts of processingas compared to edible maize This makes sensesince Pacatnamuacute was the primary religious andpolitical center during the Lambayeque periodand so its elite households would likely not havebeen involved in agricultural production as ruralhouseholds at Pedregal This evidence supportsa model in which Pedregal residents were pro-cessing maize at a level beyond that of householdconsumption and were exporting some maize toregional networks

A more precise way to look at maize processingis by comparing cupules to kernels since cobfragments can represent varying proportions of asingle ear of corn whereas each individual cupulerepresents the point where one kernel was attachedto the cob At Pedregal I counted fragments ascobs when the entire circumference of the cobwas present I also counted all cupules whether

they were loose or part of cob fragments Gumer-man (1991) did not calculate densities of cupulesat Pacatnamuacute but his student Plescia (2003) cal-culated mean cupule densities and cupule-to-ker-nel ratios in her study of Chimuacute-Inka plant use atthe site of El Brujo in the Chicama Valley (Plescia2003 Tate 2007) In Plesciarsquos El Brujo samplesthere were on average 1444 cupuleskernel Ples-cia interprets this overabundance of cupules(byproducts of processing) as compared to kernels(the edible portion of the plant) as evidence thathouseholds at El Brujo were harvesting and pro-cessing corn in quantities that greatly exceededhousehold consumption perhaps for transport toInka state facilities At Pedregal there were 2552cupuleskernel an even greater overabundance ofprocessing byproducts

Pedregal households may thus have been pro-cessing maize for export as trade or more likelyas tribute to larger valley centers like Pacatnamuacuteand Farfaacuten Nonetheless as Figure 6 shows Pe-dregal kernel-to-cob ratios did not change no-ticeably from the early to the late occupationsuggesting that Pedregal residents were involvedin crop processing above the level of the house-hold throughout the LIP During the later phasehowever maize processing for export continuedwhile agricultural production became even morefocused on economically important staples likecotton and especially maize


Figure 6 Comparison of cob and kernel densities at Pedregal Pacatnamuacute (Gumerman 1991) and El Brujo (Plescia 2003Tate 2006) Densities estimated based on Plescia 2003Figure 53

Range and Focus of Household Culinary Activities

The hypothesis that production of agriculturalstaples intensified in rural households underChimuacute rule is supported by botanical evidencefrom Pedregal Nonetheless in order to explorethe impact of this intensification on rural house-holds I consider a wider range of evidence relatedto domestic culinary practice and other householdactivities Cuisine at Pedregal was shaped notjust by the range of food available but also bytraditions relating to cooking methods and thesocial context of consumption Elsewhere(Cutright 2013) I have presented evidence forcommunity feasting and household food offeringsat Pedregal in this section I focus on daily culi-nary practice In particular I consider whetherrural cuisine shifted in emphasis diversity orpreparation to accommodate a greater focus onmaize and cotton processing Ingredients If producing and processing maize

and cotton placed a greater demand on Pedregalresidents through time or if households were in-

creasingly relying on state redistributive networksas Pozorski (1982) suggests for the Moche Valleywe might expect the range of species used in Pe-dregal houses to narrow Comparison of earlyand late LIP assemblages reveals that the overallrange of species remains constant contrary tothis expectation No important new products ap-peared no large contributors to the diet droppedout and the range remained diverse Nonethelessfish NISP as a proportion of the faunal assem-blage decreased from the early to late occupationwhile domesticated mammals made a signifi-cantly greater contribution to the assemblage (Fig-ure 7) This change mirrors the decreasing roleof wild plants in the diet over time discussedabove and suggests that over the course of theLIP rural farming villages became more focusedon agricultural production and less likely to sup-plement their diet with wild plants and animalsAlternatively they might have been less able toaccess the products of fishing specialists at nearbycommunities like Pacatnamuacute Recipes Stews and other wet preparations

were and still are at the heart of daily coastal


Figure 7 Early and late LIP faunal assemblages at Pedregal

cuisine These meals are recorded archaeologicallyin food offerings from burials at Farfaacuten (Cutright2011) historically by Spanish chroniclers (Cobo1990198 [1653]) and ethnographically (Gillin1947) Ceramic forms like cooking pots (ollas)and deep bowls relate most strongly to this kindof food preparation Another important wet-cook-ing technique in north coast cuisine is the prepa-ration of fermented maize beer or chicha Chichawas a part of daily diet in late prehistory and alsoplayed a key role in ritual and political feasts Thearchaeological signatures of chicha productioninclude large fermenting vessels dumps of maizedregs and production facilities with large hearths(Hayashida 2008 Moore 1989)

Roasting either over a fire or inside a pit ovenoccupied a different culinary space in prehispanicculture and may have been reserved for feastsand other special occasion meals Roasted foodswould be served in shallow wide-mouthed bowlsor plates While the meat cooked in the pit would

show no evidence of burning earth-oven cookingwould char bones in deposits below and aroundthe pit Roasting meat directly over the fire incontrast would result in charring on any part ofthe bone not covered by meat I did not observedifferences in charring patterns through time atPedregal most burnt or calcined bone seems tohave been burnt during discard-related or post-depositional activities such as the incinerationof trash Daily Meals at Pedregal If cooking techniques

changed through time we might expect to seechanges in the ceramic assemblage related to foodpreparation or serving The most common vesselforms were cooking vessels (ollas) restricted-neck jars large liquid storage and fermentationvessels (tinajas) ring or or pedestal base bowlsand flat-bottomed plates with high walls (Figure8 Figure 4) In terms of function this assemblagerepresents wet cooking storing and serving liq-uids and serving wet preparations like stews


Figure 8 Domestic wares by category at Pedregal

One way that households might cope with in-creased demands on their labor is by increasingin size (Wilk and Netting 1984) Within house-holds cooks may have emphasized efficiency bymaking larger batches of food at once or usingless labor-intensive techniques such as wet cook-ing (Brumfiel 1991 Crown 2000230) Changesin average meal size to feed a larger householdor make larger meals with more leftovers shouldbe reflected by increases in the average size ofhousehold cooking wares while shifts towardmore efficient cooking techniques might be visi-ble in changing proportions of vessels within thehousehold assemblage Table 3 shows that aver-age rim diameters decreased slightly throughtime but this difference is only marginally sig-nificant and not strong providing no evidencefor changes in household or meal size

Figure 8 compares the proportions of utilitar-ian vessel forms from the early to late occupationJars and tinajas make up about the same propor-tion of the ceramic assemblage in both occupa-tions ollas increase slightly and serving vesselsdecrease but without a statistically significant dif-ference in proportion The data do not indicate achange in overall emphasis of daily food prepa-ration from the early to late LIP No new formsor new culinary operations were introduced andthe overall outline of the household assemblageremained constant

There is thus no clear evidence to support anincrease in meal size or a change in family orga-nization over the course of the LIP at PedregalFuture work aimed at excavating larger horizontal

areas in both early and late occupations mightallow changes in household size or compositionto be charted but at this point the view thatemerges from a consideration of culinary practiceis one of continuity in the range and scope ofdaily activities This view is supported by evi-dence of continuity in other dimensions of house-hold practice such as craft production and do-mestic ritual during this same period (Cutright2009 2010 2013)

Discussion and ConclusionsResearch at Pedregal suggests that Chimuacute impe-rial administrators were interested in increasingproduction of a few staple agricultural resourcessuch as maize and cotton in the Jequetepequecountryside Communities like Pedregal raisedthese crops and processed them into mealschicha and textiles for household use but theseresources also likely flowed out of rural villageslike Pedregal to provincial centers like Farfaacutenwhere they could have been used to host feastsor support state projects Because of the limitednumber of storerooms at Farfaacuten (Mackey 2009)some of these resources may even have been ex-ported to the capital at Chan Chan a scenariothat lends support to models of Chimuacute expansionin which the need to increase agricultural outputsdrove conquest (eg Kolata 1990) and compareswell with Inka administration of provinces likethe Mantaro Valley (DrsquoAltroy and Hastorf 2001)

The view from Pedregal kitchens also suggeststhat intensification of agricultural production un-der the Chimuacute was possible without radically re-organizing households It is likely that Pedregalresidents had supplied some agricultural productsto Lambayeque elites at nearby Pacatnamuacute evenbefore Chimuacute conquest and so Chimuacute extractionof agricultural products may have been felt as acontinuation of pre-conquest patterns to whichhouseholds had already learned to adapt In thisview Chimuacute expansion into the Jequetepequewould have changed the faces of the lords towhich tribute was due but perhaps not muchmore than that for residents of rural villages

I did observe a shift in the focus if not therange of household activities at Pedregal Cropproduction and processing intensified accompa-nied by a shift away from wild foraged food and


Table 3 Mean Rim Diameters of Selected Ceramic Formsin Early and Late LIP Assemblages

mean rim n diameter (cm) t-testOlla

Early LIP 106 1101 t = 1679 p = 095Late LIP 132 1045

Bowl Early LIP 76 2013 t = 1637 p = 104Late LIP 44 1846

Tinaja Early LIP 33 417 t = 194 p = 847Late LIP 27 4115

Jar Early LIP 29 1446 t = 1857 p = 07Late LIP 20 1195


tree fruits Nonetheless there was no visiblechange in the scope of household activities orthe range of daily diet and no evidence that cookswere increasing the efficiency of food preparationto cope with the labor requirements of intensifiedcrop processing

One way to interpret these findings is to con-clude that the Chimuacute state was not interested inreorganizing the local domestic economy Thisconclusion reinforces the emerging consensusthat Chimuacute administrators employed a mosaic ofdirect and indirect strategies in conquered terri-tories While this mosaic varied from valley tovalley it seems that Chimuacute influence was mostoften exerted to establish provincial political cen-ters and complete large infrastructure projects inconquered valleys but not generally to incorpo-rate nonelite households into state redistributivenetworks or control hinterland ritual expressionby rural elites This view from the provinces con-trasts with the classic centralized model of Chimuacutepolitical economy based on work in the Mocheand Chicama Valley core and suggests that futureinvestigations should return to reevaluate thismodel in the Chimuacute heartland

Alternatively these findings could be inter-preted to indicate that Pedregal families or com-munity-level institutions either were isolated fromchanges happening at the regional level or suc-cessfully buffered the demands of Chimuacute admin-istrators in order to maintain significant house-hold-level continuity in the face of valley-widereorganization While cuisine and domestic prac-tice are often regarded as conservative I suggestthat the close proximity of Pedregal to regionalpolitical centers specialization in agriculturalproduction of interest to Chimuacute administratorsand existing participation in regional religiousand economic networks would not have allowedhouseholds to remain largely removed from re-gional dynamics

Instead household decisions may have fo-cused on maintaining important ideals or tradi-tions Corn and cotton are relatively time-con-suming to process and it may be that the shifttoward domesticated plants and animals repre-sents a trade-off in the household diet Howeverwild foraged resources such as shellfish neverdropped completely out of the diet and house-

holds seem to have compensated for the demandsof intensified crop production in ways that pre-served the overall range of household activitieskept family size constant and retained existingculinary traditions

As cases such as Lukurmata (Bermann 1994)and Tell el-Hayyat (Falconer 1995) show somedimensions of household practice may be quick toadapt while others remain conservative or changebased on local priorities rather than regional de-mands The resiliency of past households may infact lie in their ability to resist major change Es-pecially in situations of rapid regional transforma-tion conservatism might require as much actionon the part of household members as change Atthe very least a view from the kitchen requiresbroader consideration of the micro-scale processesat work in households and recognition that stateadministrators are not the only actors in provincialsettings Rather multiple dimensions of dailyhousehold practice must be disentangled and con-sidered alongside regional trajectories of changeLocal residents experienced Chimuacute conquest andcontrol in kitchens fields and village plazas in-vestigating these contexts has the potential to in-form not only our understanding of the lives ofconquered populations but also our reconstructionsof ancient empires themselves

Acknowledgments Excavations at Pedregal in 2006 (Resolucioacuten804INC) were directed by Lic Jorge Terrones and supportedby the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research(grant 7413) a Fulbright Commission IIE grant and an Inter-national Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Social Sci-ence Research Council This article was written during aStodghill Research Professorship at Centre College Radiocarbondates were funded by SSHRC Research Grant 410-2007-1111to Michael Blake and Bruce Benz Marc Bermann GabrielaCervantes Noel Cutright Dick Drennan Carol Mackey HowardTsai Melissa Vogel and three anonymous reviewers contributedhelpful comments useful critique and essential support All er-rors of fact or interpretation remain my own

Data Availability Statement Materials collected by theProyecto Arqueoloacutegico Pedregal in 2006 are stored by theMinisterio de Cultura in Trujillo Peru Original hard-copyand digital field records and photographs are in possession ofthe author at Centre College Artifact data tables are availableopen-access as appendices in Cutright 2009 and are in prepa-ration as a dataset in the Comparative Archaeology DatabaseUniversity of Pittsburgh httpwwwcadbpittedu


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Bolivia Princeton University Press PrincetonBlake Michael Bruce Benz Nicholas Jakobsen Ryan Wallace

Sue Formosa Kisha Supernant Diana Moreiras andAlex Wong

2012 Ancient Maize Map Version 11 An Online Databaseand Mapping Program for Studying The Archaeology ofMaize in the Americas Electronic document httpenan-cientmaizecom accessed December 16 2013

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in Early States and Empires Kluwer AcademicPlenumNew York

Bronk Ramsey Christopher 2010 OxCal v415 [software] Electronic document

httpc14archoxacukembedphpFile=oxcalhtml ac-cessed July 16 2014

Brumfiel Elizabeth M 1991 Weaving and Cooking Womenrsquos Production in Aztec

Mexico In Engendering Archaeology edited by JoanGero and Margaret Conkey pp 224-251 Blackwell Pub-lishers Malden

Calancha Antonio de la 1982 [1638] Croacutenica moralizada del Ordeacuten de San Augustiacuten

en el Peruacute con sucesos egenplares en esta monarquiacuteaEdited by Ignacio Prado Pastor Universidad de SanMarcos Press Lima

Campana Cristoacutebal 2006 Chan Chan del Chimo Editorial Orus LimaCastillo Butters Luis Jaime 2001 The Last of the Mochicas A View from the Jequete-

peque Valley In Moche Art and Archaeology edited byJoanne Pillsbury pp 307ndash332 Yale University PressNew Haven

Cobo Bernabe 1990[1653] Inca Religion and Customs translated and

edited by Rowland Hamilton University of Texas PressAustin

Conrad Geoffrey W 1981 Cultural Materialism Split Inheritance and the Ex-

pansion of Ancient Peruvian Empires American Antiquity46(1)3ndash26

Crown Patricia 2000 Womenrsquos Role in Changing Cuisine In Women and

Men in the Prehispanic Southwest edited by PatriciaCrown pp 221ndash266 School of American Research PressSanta Fe

Cutright Robyn E 2009 Between the Kitchen and the State Domestic Practice

and Chimuacute Expansion in the Jequetepeque Valley PeruPhD dissertation Department of Anthropology Universityof Pittsburgh Pittsburgh

2010 Food Family and Empire Relating Political andDomestic Change in the Jequetepeque Hinterland InComparative Perspectives on the Archaeology of CoastalSouth America edited by Robyn E Cutright EnriqueLoacutepez-Hurtado and Alexander Martin pp 27ndash44 Centerfor Comparative Archaeology University of PittsburghPittsburgh

2011 Food for the Dead Cuisine of the Living MortuaryFood Offerings from the Jequetepeque Valley Peruacute InFrom State to Empire in the Prehistoric JequetepequeValley Peru edited by Colleen Zori and Ilana Johnson

pp 83ndash92 British Archaeological Reports InternationalSeries 2310 Archaeopress Oxford

2013 Household Ofrendas and Community Feasts Ritualat a Late Intermediate Period Village in the JequetepequeValley Peru Ntildeawpa Pacha 33(1)1ndash21

Cutright Robyn E and Gabriela Cervantes Quequezana 2012 Informe de Investigaciones Temporada 2011 Proyecto

de Investigacioacuten Arqueoloacutegica Ventanillas Report submittedto the Ministry of Culture Lima Peru

DrsquoAltroy Terence 1992 Provincial Power in the Inka Empire Smithsonian

University Press Washington DCDrsquoAltroy Terence N and Christine A Hastorf (editors) 2001 Empire and Domestic Economy Kluwer Academic

Plenum New YorkDay Kent 1982 Ciudadelas Their Form and Function In Chan Chan

Andean Desert City edited by Michael Moseley andKent Day pp 55ndash66 University of New Mexico PressAlbuquerque

Dietler Michael and Brian Hayden (editors) 2001 Feasts Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives

on Food Politics and Power Smithsonian InstitutionPress Washington DC

Dillehay Tom D and Alan L Kolata 2004 Long-term Human Response to Uncertain Environ-

mental Conditions in the Andes Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences 101(12)4325ndash4330

Donnan Christopher and Guillermo Cock (editors) 1997 The Pacatnamuacute Papers Vol 2 The Moche Occupation

University of California Los AngelesEling Herbert H 1987 The Role of Irrigation Networks in Emerging Societal

Complexity During Late Prehispanic Times JequetepequeValley North Coast Peru PhD dissertation Universityof Texas Austin

Falconer Steven E 1995 Rural Responses to Early Urbanism Bronze Age

Household and Village Economy at Tell el-Hayyat JordanJournal of Field Archaeology 22399ndash419

Gillin John P 1947 Moche a Peruvian Coastal Community Smithsonian

Institution Institute of Social Anthropology WashingtonDC

Graff Sarah R and Enrique Rodriacuteguez-Alegriacutea (editors) 2012 The Menial Art of Cooking Archaeological Studies

of Cooking and Food Preparation University Press ofColorado Boulder

Gumerman George IV 1991 Subsistence and Complex Societies Diet Between

Diverse Socio-economic Groups Pacatnamu Peru PhDdissertation Department of Anthropology University ofCalifornia Los Angeles

1997 Food and Complex Societies Journal of ArchaeologicalMethod and Theory 4(2) 105ndash139

Hassig Ross 1985 Trade Tribute and Transportation The Sixteenth-

Century Political Economy of the Valley of Mexico Uni-versity of Oklahoma Press Norman

Hastorf Christine A 1990 The Effect of the Inka State on Sausa Agricultural

Production and Crop Consumption American Antiquity55(2)262ndash290

1991 Gender Space and Food in Prehistory In EngenderingArchaeology edited by Joan Gero and Margaret Conkeypp 132ndash159 Blackwell Publishers Malden

2012 The Habitus of Cooking Practices at Neolithic Ccedilatal-houmlyuumlk What Was the Place of the Cook In The MenialArt of Cooking Archaeological Studies of Cooking andFood Preparation edited by Sarah R Graff and EnriqueRodriacuteguez-Alegriacutea pp 65ndash86 University Press of ColoradoBoulder

Hayashida Frances M 2006 The Pampa de Chaparri Water Land and Politics

on the North Coast of Peru Latin American Antiquity17(3)243ndash264

2008 Ancient Beer and Modern Brewers Ethnoarchaeo-logical Observations of Chicha Production in Two Regionsof the North Coast of Peru Journal of AnthropologicalArchaeology 27(2)161ndash174

Hayden Brian and Suzanne Villeneuve 2011 A Century of Feasting Studies Annual Review of

Anthropology 40 433ndash449Hecker Wolfgang and Giesela Hecker 1990 Ruinas caminos y sistemas de irrigacioacuten prehispaacutenicos

en la provincia de Pacasmayo Peruacute Patrimonio Arque-oloacutegico Zona Norte3 Instituto Departamental de Cul-tura-La Libertad Trujillo Peruacute

Keatinge Richard W 1975 Urban Settlement Systems and Rural Sustaining

Communities An Example from Chan Chanrsquos HinterlandJournal of Field Archaeology 2(3)215ndash227

1982 The Chimuacute Empire in a Regional Perspective CulturalAntecedents and Continuities In Chan Chan AndeanDesert City edited by Michael Moseley and Kent Daypp 197ndash224 University of New Mexico Press Albu-querque

Keatinge Richard W and Geoffrey W Conrad 1983 Imperialist Expansion in Peruvian Prehistory Chimuacute

Administration of a Conquered Territory Journal of FieldArchaeology 10(3)255ndash283

Klarich Elizabeth A (editor) 2010 Inside Ancient Kitchens New Directions in the Study

of Daily Meals and Feasts University Press of ColoradoBoulder

Kolata Alan 1983 Chan Chan and Cuzco On the Nature of the Ancient

Andean City In Civilization in the Ancient Americasedited by Richard Leventhal and Alan Kolata pp 345ndash371 Dumbarton Oaks Washington DC

1990 The Urban Concept of Chan Chan In The NorthernDynasties Kingship and Statecraft in Chimor edited byMichael Moseley and Alana Cordy-Collins pp 107ndash144Dumbarton Oaks Washington DC

Koschmieder Klaus 2004 Siedlungsweise und Subsistenzstrategien an der

suumldlichen Peripherie des Chimuacute-Imperiums PhD dis-sertation Free University of Berlin

Koschmieder Klaus and Rafael Vega-Centeno 1996 Puerto Pobre centro administrativo Chimuacute en el

valle de Casma Revista del Museo de ArqueologiacuteaAntropologiacutea e Historia 6161ndash200

Lennstrom Heidi A and Christine A Hastorf 1995 Interpretation in Context Sampling and Analysis in

Paleoethnobotany American Antiquity 60(4)701ndash721Lightfoot Kent G Antoinette Martinez and Ann M Schiff 1998 Daily Practice and Material Culture in Pluralistic

Social Settings An Archaeological Study of CultureChange and Persistence from Fort Ross California Amer-ican Antiquity 63(2)199ndash222

Mackey Carol J 2004 La ocupacioacuten de dos centros administrativos en el

valle de Jequetepeque El Algarrobal de Moro y Farfaacuten

In Desarrollo arqueoloacutegico costa norte del Peruacute 2 editedby Luis Valle Alvarez pp 75ndash88 Ediciones SIANTrujillo Peru

2006 Elite Residences at Farfaacuten A Comparison of theChimuacute and Inka Occupations In Palaces of the AncientNew World edited by Susan Toby Evans and JoannePillsbury pp313ndash352 Dumbarton Oaks WashingtonDC

2009 Chimuacute Statecraft in the Provinces In Andean Civi-lization A Tribute to Michael E Moseley edited byJoyce Marcus and P Ryan Williams pp 325ndash349 CotsenInstitute of Archaeology Los Angeles

2011 The Persistence of Lambayeque Ethnic Identity ThePerspective from the Jequetepeque Valley Peru In FromState to Empire in the Prehistoric Jequetepeque ValleyPeru edited by Colleen Zori and Ilana Johnson pp149ndash168 British Archaeological Reports International Series2310 Archaeopress Oxford

Mackey Carol J and AM Ulana Klymyshyn 1990 The Southern Frontier of the Chimuacute Empire In The

Northern Dynasties Kingship and Statecraft in Chimoredited by Michael Moseley and Alana Cordy-Collins pp195ndash226 Dumbarton Oaks Washington DC

McClelland Donald 1986 Brick Seriation at Pacatnamuacute In The Pacatnamuacute

Papers vol 1 edited by Christopher Donnan and GuillermoCock pp 27ndash46 University of California Press Los An-geles

McCormac Gerry Alan Hogg Paul Blackwell Caitlin BuckThomas Higham and Paula Reimer

2004 SHCalO4 Southern Hemisphere Calibration 0-1 10cai kyr BP Radiocarbon 46 1087ndash1092

Mintz Sidney W and Christine M Du Bois 2002 The Anthropology of Food and Eating Annual Review

of Anthropology 3199ndash119Moore Jerry D 1985 Household Economics and Political Integration the

Lower Class of the Chimuacute Empire PhD dissertationDepartment of Anthropology University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara

1989 Pre-Hispanic Beer in Coastal Peru Technology andSocial Context of Prehistoric Production American An-thropologist 91(3)682ndash695

1992 Pattern and Meaning in Prehistoric Peruvian Archi-tecture The Architecture of Social Control in the ChimuacuteState Latin American Antiquity 395ndash113

Moore Jerry D and Carol J Mackey 2008 The Chimuacute Empire In The Handbook of South

American Archaeology edited by Helaine Silverman andWilliam Isbell pp 783ndash808 Springer New York

Morrison Kathleen D 2001 Coercion Resistance and Hierarchy Local Processes

and Imperial Strategies in the Vijayanagara Empire InEmpires Perspectives from Archaeology and Historyedited by Susan Alcock Terence DrsquoAltroy KathleenMorrison and Carla Sinopoli pp 252ndash278 CambridgeUniversity Press New York

Moseley Michael E and Kent Day (editors) 1982 Chan Chan Andean Desert City University of New

Mexico Press AlbuquerqueMoseley Michael E and Alana Cordy-Collins (editors) 1990 The Northern Dynasties Kingship and Statecraft in

Chimor Dumbarton Oaks Washington DCMoseley Michael E and Eric E Deeds 1982 The Land in Front of Chan Chan Agrarian Expansion

Reform and Collapse in the Moche Valley In ChanChan Andean Desert City edited by Michael Moseley



and Kent Day pp 25ndash54 University of New MexicoPress Albuquerque

Murra John V 1984 Andean Societies Annual Reviews of Anthropology

13119ndash41Pearsall Deborah M 2000 Paleoethnobotany A Handbook of Procedures second

edition Academic Press New YorkPillsbury Joanne and Banks L Leonard 2004 Identifying Chimuacute Palaces Elite Residential Archi-

tecture in the Late Intermediate Period In Palaces of theAncient New World edited by Susan Toby Evans andJoanne Pillsbury pp247ndash298 Dumbarton Oaks Wash-ington DC

Plescia Sara 2003 Under Inka Rule Chimu-Inka Subsistence at El

Brujo during the Late Horizon Period UnpublishedMasterrsquos thesis Department of Anthropology NorthernArizona University

Pozorski Shelia G 1979 Prehistoric Diet and Subsistence of the Moche Valley

Peru World Archaeology 11(2)163ndash184 1982 Subsistence Systems in the Chimuacute State In Chan

Chan Andean Desert City edited by Michael Moseleyand Kent Day pp 177ndash196 University of New MexicoPress Albuquerque

Prieto Burmester O Gabriel 2008 Ceraacutemica utilitaria chimuacute de San Joseacute de Moro

Tipologiacutea de formas y modelos interpretativos In Revistadel Museo de Arqueologiacutea e Historia 10111ndash154

2010 Approximating Lambayeque Political ConfigurationsA Perspective from the Site of San Joseacute de Moro Je-quetepeque Valley In Comparative Perspectives on theArchaeology of Coastal South America edited by RobynE Cutright Enrique Loacutepez-Hurtado and AlexanderMartin pp 231ndash246 University of Pittsburgh Memoirsin Latin American Archaeology

2011 Chicha Production during the Chimuacute Period at SanJoseacute de Moro Jequetepeque Valley North Coast of PeruIn From State to Empire in the Prehistoric JequetepequeValley Peru edited by Colleen Zori and Ilana Johnsonpp 105ndash128 British Archaeological Reports InternationalSeries 2310 Archaeopress Oxford

Ravines Rogger (editor) 1980 Chanchan Metroacutepoli Chimuacute Instituto de Estudios

Peruanos Lima Rowe John 1948 The Kingdom of Chimor Acta Americana 6(1ndash

2)26ndash59Sapp William D III 2011 Lambayeque Norte and Lambayeque Sur Evidence

for the Development of an Indigenous LambayequePolity in the Jequetepeque Valley Peru In From State toEmpire in the Prehistoric Jequetepeque Valley Peruedited by Colleen Zori and Ilana Johnson pp 93ndash104British Archaeological Reports International Series 2310Archaeopress Oxford

Schreiber Katharina 1987 Conquest and Consolidation A Comparison of the

Wari and Inka Occupations of a Highland Peruvian ValleyAmerican Antiquity 52(2)266ndash284

2005 Imperial Agendas and Local Agency Wari ColonialStrategies In The Archaeology of Colonial EncountersComparative Perspectives edited by Gil J Stein pp237ndash262 School of American Research Press Santa FeNew Mexico

Shimada Izumi 1985 La cultura Sicaacuten Caracterizacioacuten arqueoloacutegica In

Presencia histoacuterica de Lambayeque edited by Eric Men-doza pp 76ndash133 Editoral e Imprenta DESA SA Lima

2000 Late Prehispanic Coastal States In The Inca WorldThe Development of Pre-Columbian Peru AD 1000ndash1534 edited by Laura Laurencich Minelli pp 49ndash110University of Oklahoma Press Norman

Sinopoli Carla M 1994 The Archaeology of Empires Annual Review of An-

thropology 23(1)159ndash180Smith Michael E 2004 The Archaeology of Ancient State Empires Annual

Review of Anthropology 3373ndash102Stanish Charles 1992 Ancient Andean Political Economy University of

Texas Press AustinStark Barbara L and John K Chance 2012 The Strategies of Provincials in Empires In The

Comparative Archaeology of Complex Societies editedby Michael E Smith pp 192ndash237 Cambridge UniversityPress New York

Stein Gil J 2002 From Passive Periphery to Active Agents Emerging

Perspectives in the Archaeology of Interregional InteractionAmerican Anthropologist 104903ndash916

Swenson Edward R 2007 Local Ideological Strategies and the Politics of Ritual

Space in the Chimuacute Empire Archaeological Dialogues14(1)61ndash90

Tate James 2007 The Late Horizon Occupation of the El Brujo Site

Complex Chicama Valley Peru PhD dissertation De-partment of Anthropology University of California SantaBarbara

Tellez Sandra and Frances Hayashida 2004 Campos de cultivo prehispaacutenicos en la Pampa de

Chaparriacute In Identidad y transformacioacuten en el Tawantinsuyoedited by Peter Kaulicke Gary Urton and Ian Farringtonpp 373ndash390 Boletiacuten de Arqueologiacutea PUCP 8(3) LimaPeru

Topic John R 1982 Lower-Class Social and Economic Organization at

Chan Chan In Chan Chan Andean Desert City editedby Michael Moseley and Kent Day pp 145ndash176 Universityof New Mexico Press Albuquerque

2003 From Stewards to Bureaucrats Architecture and In-formation Flow at Chan Chan Peru Latin American An-tiquity 14(3)243ndash274

Topic Theresa L 1990 Territorial Expansion and the Kingdom of Chimor In

The Northern Dynasties Kingship and Statecraft inChimor edited by Michael Moseley and Alana Cordy-Collins pp 177ndash194 Dumbarton Oaks Washington DC

Tschauner Hartmut 2001 Socioeconomic and Political Organization in the

Late Prehispanic Lambayeque Sphere Northern NorthCoast of Peru PhD dissertation Harvard University

2008 Chimuacute Craft Specialization and Political EconomyA View from the Provinces In Andean Archaeology IIINorth and South edited by William Isbell and HelaineSilverman pp 171ndash198 Springer New York

Twiss Katheryn C (editor) 2007 The Archaeology of Food and Identity Center for

Archaeological Investigations Southern Illinois UniversityCarbondale


Uceda Santiago 1997 Esculturas en miniatura y una maqueta de madera

In Investigaciones en la Huaca de la Luna 1995 editedby Santiago Uceda Elias Mujica and Ricardo Moralespp 151ndash176 Facultad de Ciencias Sociales UniversidadNacional de La Libertad Trujillo

Ur Jason A and Carlo Colantoni 2010 The Cycle of Production Preparation and Con-

sumption in a Northern Mesopotamian City In InsideAncient Kitchens New Directions in the Study of DailyMeals and Feasts edited by Elizabeth Klarich pp 55ndash82 University Press of Colorado Boulder

Vasquez Victor and Teresa Rosales 2007 Anaacutelisis de restos animales del sitio El Pedregal

valle de Jequetepeque Unpublished report in possessionof the author

Vogel Melissa A 2012a Frontier Life in Ancient Peru University Press of

Florida Gainesville 2012b Exit Strategies the Conquest and Abandonment of

El Purgatorio Presented at the Institute for Andean Studies52nd Annual Meeting in Berkeley CA

Welch Paul D and C Margaret Scarry 1995 Status-Related Variation in Foodways in the Moundville

Chiefdom American Antiquity 60(3)397ndash419

Wilk Richard R 1991 Household Ecology Economic Change and Domestic

Life Among the Kekchi Maya in Belize Northern IllinoisUniversity Press DeKalb

Wilk Richard R and Robert McC Netting 1984 Households Changing Forms and Functions In

Households Comparative and Historical Studies of theDomestic Group edited by Robert Netting Richard Wilkand Eric J Arnould pp 1ndash28 University of CaliforniaPress Los Angeles

Wilson David J 1988 Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in the Lower Santa

Valley Peru Smithsonian University Press WashingtonDC

Zevallos Quintildeones Jorge 1971 Ceraacutemica de la cultura ldquoLambayequerdquoUniversidad

Nacional de la Libertad Trujillo

Submitted December 17 2013 Revised July 17 2014Accepted December 1 2014


expansion and administration of conqueredprovinces

An Archaeology of CuisineCuisine has recently emerged as a particularlyuseful construct through which to explore a broadrange of sociocultural processes (eg Bray 2003Dietler and Hayden 2001 Graff and Rodriacuteguez-Alegriacutea 2012 Gumerman 1997 Hayden and Vil-leneuve 2011 Mintz and DuBois 2002 Twiss2007) Of particular relevance here the study ofcuisine can bring into focus household-basedgendered responses to overarching politico-eco-nomic settings (Hastorf 1991 Klarich 2010)

Cuisine has often been conceptualized as rela-tively conservative and resistant to change (Crown2000) even today home cooking is a touchstonefor nostalgia tradition and identity Hastorf(201269) suggests that the daily habitus of cook-ing helped to transmit and maintain social cohe-sion and may have been a powerful force behindlong-term cultural continuity in the early Neolithicvillage of Ccedilatalhoumlyuumlk Lightfoot et alrsquos (1998)investigation of daily culinary activities in colonialnorthern California reveals that ideals related togender cuisine and the organization of domesticlabor were reproduced in daily practice and pro-vides evidence that these ideals helped buffer theimpact of broader external change

Despite arguments for culinary conservatismhouseholds articulate with regional cultural po-litical and economic dynamics through daily culi-nary practice In some cases household culinaryactivities become the basis for increasing urbanismand social complexity For example Ur and Colan-toni (2010) argue that decentralized localprocesses including choices about how to pro-duce prepare and serve food were at least asimportant as top-down elite control in intensifyingagriculture and urbanism in northern Mesopotamiain the third millennium BC In this bottom-upview households are articulated with wider socialprocesses because such processes are an aggregateof local household decisions

But this is not the only way in which cuisineand wider sociopolitical dynamics are linkedProcesses such as imperial expansion take placeabove the level of the household but householddecisions often respond to the pressures and op-

portunities that exist at a regional level (DrsquoAltroyand Hastorf 2001 Wilk 1991) Brumfiel (1991)for instance argues that Late Aztec cuisine shiftedbecause of the domestic scheduling tradeoffs intime and labor necessary to meet state demandsfor tribute Cases such as this suggest that do-mestic culinary practice can be sensitive to large-scale social dynamics and thus represents a par-ticularly interesting window onto processes suchas conquest and interaction In this article I adopta ldquoview from the kitchenrdquo in order to investigateChimuacute impact on local households in the Jequete-peque Valley of coastal Peru

Local Perspectives on Imperial ExpansionAncient empires employed various strategies tocontrol conquered populations including militaryforce political reorganization and ideologicalmanipulation Control could be exerted directlyby applying force investing heavily in infrastruc-ture and imposing state administrative controlor more indirectly by using local hierarchies andemphasizing ideological control or at some pointalong a continuum between more direct and moreindirect forms of domination (DrsquoAltroy 1992Hassig 1985 Smith 2004 Stanish 1992) Strate-gies varied according to the needs of the statethe desirable resources available in each provincethe existing level of sociopolitical complexity inthe conquered territory its distance from the im-perial heartland and the response of the localpopulation (Morrison 2001 Schreiber 1987 Si-nopoli 1994) The administration of a particularprovince could also change through time accord-ing to the priorities of the empire or the situationon the ground

The Inka are well known for taking advantageof local hierarchies and existing systems of reci-procal obligation to rule indirectly famously en-suring ldquothat the larder of the peasant remain un-touchedrdquo (Murra 198479) In some instanceshowever the impact of imperial conquest on localpopulations was dramatic In the Mantaro Valleyfor instance Inka rule altered settlement patternsand land use to increase maize production andreached into local households to reshape genderroles and the domestic economy (DrsquoAltroy andHastorf 2001 Hastorf 1991) In other provincesthe Inka applied a mix of strategies to different









































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615
































































































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615

























































































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615



















































































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615












































































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615






































































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615






























































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615


























































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615





















































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615














































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615









































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615




































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615

































































































































































































































Tree fruit late 2093 407 1954 23 p = 002 6615


































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Eating Empire in the Jequetepeque: A Local View of Chimu Expansion on the North Coast of Peru

Documents