The Moche culture, which flourished on the North Coast of Peru in the early part of the first millennium AD, has been the focus of archaeological investigation for decades. However, questions still linger regarding the nature of Moche political structure and warfare. Early researchers believed the Moche represented the first state-level culture in Andean South America. More recently, there has been a shift in thinking, with many researchers now believing the Moche consisted of two or more polities with differing levels of localized autonomy. Moche warfare has been similarly contested, with ideas about the function and frequency of armed conflict shaping and being shaped by beliefs about political structure. Therefore, a clarification of one of these two features of Andean society would help to resolve questions about the other.
To that end, this study will provide crucial evidence about Moche warfare from a source that has, so far, been underutilized: the remains of the Moche people themselves. Under the supervision of Dr. John Verano, Sara Phillips will analyze patterns in bone fractures in skeletal remains from numerous Moche sites to determine the frequency and distribution of warfare in this culture. Fracture pattern analysis provides such insight in two ways. First, a comparison of the frequency of fracture in different skeletal elements will show whether the Moche people were commonly involved in acts of interpersonal violence or if the majority of their fractures were the result of accidents. This is possible because certain fractures are indicative of interpersonal violence and others of occupational or other mishaps. Secondly, comparing the fracture pattern between individuals--those of different age, sex, and status--will show the type of individuals most likely to have experience with interpersonal violence. This comparison can be done with groups from different time periods and different Moche sites, as well as between the Moche samples as a whole and data collected from other archaeological cultures. Together, these analyses will draw a picture of Moche warfare which can be compared to the expectations derived from theories about Moche political structure to see if a military state or cooperating polities characterized the Moche.
The greater understanding of Moche warfare that will be provided by the proposed study is integral to clarifying the picture of Moche political structure by indicating whether military conquest or peaceful cooperation characterized their society. In either case, whether state or federation, the Moche culture is the linchpin to understanding the complex societies that followed in the Andes and to understanding the overall development of complex social structure in the region. Also, as one of the few areas where state-level society originated independently, tracing increasing complexity in Andean society will provide greater insight into the mechanisms behind state formation in general. Therefore, it is important that all available sources of information about the nature of Moche warfare and government be studied. One such source, the evidence for warfare left in the bodies of the Moche people themselves, has not been fully utilized, something study will remedy.
