Primary State Formation in the Virú Valley, North Coast of Peru

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 107; no. 14; pp. 6186 - 6191
• Main Author: Millaire, Jean-François
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 06.04.2010; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Adobe buildings; Archaeological excavation; Archaeology; Art galleries; Carbon dating; Cultural anthropology; Culture; Excavations; Housing; Humans; Peru; Polities; Radiocarbon dating; Residential buildings; Rock paintings; Social Environment; Social Sciences; Urban areas; Valleys; Viruses; Peru
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0911226107

The origins of urban life and functioning states are two of the most fascinating research problems in anthropological archeology and a topic that has intrigued generations of scholars working on the Peruvian north coast. In this region, Andeanists have documented the rise of Moche as a dominant culture during the first millennium A.D., and the emergence of urban life and stately institutions at this society's principal center. Although there is a broad consensus that Moche represents an archaic state, it is still unclear whether it is an example of primary state formation or a case of a second-generation state. To document this question, archaeological excavations were recently carried out at the Gallinazo Group site in the Virú Valley. Results from a radiocarbon dating program indicate that a functioning state probably emerged in this valley during the second century B.C., possibly preceding Moche by a few centuries. These results necessarily raise question regarding the nature of state development on the north coast of Peru and, in particular, whether there was a single center of state development in this region or multiple sites where similar conditions and processes led to the parallel emergence of functioning states.