Mochica social organization has been studied through the analysis of domestic contexts, iconographic representations and burials. All three sources coincide in portraying a complex social organization comprising many divisions and segments, with groups that show a high degree of specialization, sexual and gender differentiations, clustering of individuals of similar status, and qualitative differences between social strata. In general terms three groups can be identified: the ruling elite, the commoners, and the poor. Mochica ruling elites—comprising males, females and children of royal lineages—were buried in royal tombs located in small funerary platforms, generally in chamber burials, surrounded by fine objects of metal, ceramics, semiprecious stones, and multiple retainer burials. Elite burials were not only rich and complex, they usually included multiple objects loaded with iconographic representations, and ritual paraphernalia including attires and instruments that allowed them to participate in ceremonies and to recreate mythical narratives. The burials of Mochica rulers at Sipan, and of Priestesses at San Jose de Moro are some of the most conspicuous examples of Mochica ruling elites. Their household dwellings are usually large and well-fitted adobe constructions with multiple rooms, and can be located inside or in connection with temples. Mochica elites are conspicuously portrayed in portable and monumental art in leading roles, as military commanders, receiving offerings inside roofed structures, or as deities participating in mythical events and ceremonies. Funerary evidence and iconographic evidence coincide in presenting the elites with extremely elaborate costumes, including not only fine garments but many precious ornaments: crowns, feathers, nose ornaments, collars, bracelets, and multiple metal artifacts such as scepters, weapons, banners, and litters.
Below the royal elites was a fairly large social segment including individuals who were neither rich nor poor: the commoners. This segment represents the largest number of burials and households studied and within it we can observe a high degree of variability. Their burials are usually contained inside small niche chambers in the southern area, and in boot-shaped shaft tombs in the northern region. These can include multiple ceramics objects, even some with complex iconographic representations, but fewer metal objects. It seems that Mochica commoners had access to representations of ceremonies and myths, but could not participate in leading roles in their recreations. These burials frequently contain sets of objects related to specific crafts, for example textile production in the case of females, or metal work in the case of males. There seems to be an intentional representation
Of the functional aspect of their identities at the time of burial. Commoner households are much smaller than the elite ones.
The Mochica poor are the least understood and studied. Donnan and McClelland’s (1997) study of a fishermen cemetery in Pacatnamu and Bawden’s (1994) excavations of small dwellings in the foothills of Galindo are examples of the lower class settings. In many cases the poor were treated in ways quite different from other Mochicas. For instance, in San Jose de Moro, the poor people, particularly women and children, were disposed of summarily in pit burials, with few or no associations and in conjunction with areas where they had been laboring in the production of chicha (maize beer). Their burials do not correspond—either in form, orientation of the body or disposition of the elements—to the funerary treatment of elites or commoners. Small children are quite abundant in these kinds of burials, as if children had not been conferred with the social status of their elders and were always treated as poor. In Pacatnamu, Donnan (1997) found a cemetery composed of 28 males, 27 females and 29 children of low status. Although burials here were more organized in terms of position and orientation, and most were even placed inside cane coffins, their associations show that relatively, these individuals had a very restricted access to goods and resources. Garments, in many cases, showed excessive wear, reducing them to rags with multiple patches. Low status houses, studied in Galindo and other sites, are narrow structures, built with stone walls and located on hill slopes, with limited access to resources and often separated from the rest of the community by walls. It is likely, though, that these low status houses are, in reality, refuge dwellings for the community in case of attack inasmuch as storage vessels, water containers, and piles of sling stones are frequently associated with these houses. It has been argued that the Mochica poor could have had closer relations with the Gallinazo tradition, or that they might even have been enslaved Gallinazo people (Shimada 1994). This assumption seems to be wrong given the new understanding of Gallinazo as the underlying cultural tradition, that is to say that all Mochicas were Gallinazo in their quotidian tradition, something that was more apparent among the poor.
Mochica social organization was not only complex but was divided by economic, functional, gender and age divisions. It has been argued that Late Moche was a time of social crisis, with multiple indications of social clashes that resulted in true revolts, and even the burning and destruction of elite Mochica symbols (Shimada 1994; Bawden 1996; Pillsbury 2001). Although social tension could have been worst during Late Moche due to climatic instabilities, it is quite evident that a society with such social gaps, exclusions, and divisions must always have been rife with social confrontation. Much of Mochica ideology is about legitimizing social differences and establishing roles that, although assuring sustenance, gave much to few and little to most.
World History
