Date of Award

6-1-2009

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

Lawernce Conyers, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Bonnie Clark

Third Advisor

Rob Roberts

Keywords

Cerro Santa Rita, Chao Valley, Gallinazo, Hilltop, Moche, Peru

Abstract

The Site of Cerro Santa Rita is located in the mid-valley region of the Chao Valley on the North Cast of Peru. Occupied by people during the Gallinazo, Moche and Chimú time periods, Cerro Santa Rita fulfilled a role similar to that of a huaca, or temple. The people of pre-Hispanic Peru were deep set in their traditions, many of these traditions are still practiced by Peruvians today. The traditions of ancestor veneration and feasting are no exceptions to this. Cerro Santa Rita was a burial complex that had plazas and courtyards associated with the tombs of ancestors. Not as elaborate or large as the huacas to the north in the Moche and Chicama Valleys, which served as regional, administrative and religious centers, Cerro Santa Rita was more oriented to local ceremony. Ceramic and biological evidence suggests that parts of Cerro Santa Rita were unitized as designated areas for food and beverage production, these areas lack plazas and demonstrate a limited variability in ceramic morphologies. These practices demonstrate that public ceremony and feasts provided the social cohesion on a local level that was required in the outlying valleys, such as the Chao. This was necessary if Gallinazo, Moche and Chimú power centers to the north were going to maintain access to and influence over trade networks.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Richard A. Busch

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

254 p.

Discipline

Archaeology

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