This study introduces a new method for analyzing oral health indicators and thus reconstructing diet. To this end, we examined the dental remains of 173 individuals recovered from the site of Cerro Oreja in the Moche Valley of Perú, who lived during the Salinar (400-1 BC) or Gallinazo (AD 1-200) phases. The infectious and degenerative conditions analyzed include: dental caries, dental wear, dental abscess, antemortem tooth loss and dental calculus, all of which have been used to track dietary and thus subsistence-related economic and sociopolitical changes. Data were analyzed using generalized estimating equations, an extension of generalized linear models. Significant changes in the frequency of occurrence of most dental conditions suggest that during the period of study, there was an increase in the consumption of agricultural products. However, these changes in oral health did not equally affect females and males. By the end of the Gallinazo phase, significant sex differences developed, with females more often affected by dental caries and males displaying greater mean molar wear scores.

AbstractIn this paper we test the hypothesis that an intensification of maize production preceded the development of a regional Moche political economy in the Moche Valley of north coastal Peru during the Early Intermediate period (400 B.C.—A.D. 600). To do so we analyze stable isotopic signatures of 48 bone apatite and 17 tooth enamel samples from human remains recovered from the site of Cerro Oreja, a large urban and ceremonial center in the Moche Valley. These remains date to the Guañape, Salinar, or Gallinazo phases and provide a diachronic picture of subsistence before the appearance of the Southern Moche state. The most notable patterns identified in the study include a lack of significant change in δ13Capatitevalues from the Guañape to Satinar phases, followed by a significant enrichment in δ13Capatitevalues from the Salinar to Gallinazo phases. Several lines of evidence, including archaeological context, dental data, and comparative carbon stable isotope data from experimental animal studies and studies of archaeological human remains support the interpretation that the observed13C enrichment in stable isotope values in the Gallinazo phase primarily reflects maize intensification. The stable isotope data from Cerro Oreja thus suggest that a shift in subsistence toward a highly productive and storable crop may have served as an important precursor to state development during the Early Intermediate period in the Moche Valley.

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The Moche of north coastal Perú were among the earliest New World societies to develop state socio-political organization. The Moche State (AD 200-800) was a centralized hierarchical society that controlled the Moche Valley as well as valleys to the north and south. Prior to the establishment of the state, a series of less hierarchical organizations were present in the valley. Irrigation agriculture has often been cited as central to development of the Moche State. To test this assertion I examined 750 individuals recovered from the largest cemetery at the site of Cerro Oreja. Although the most important occupation of Cerro Oreja was during the Gallinazo phase (AD 1-200), many individuals were interred here during the earlier Salinar period (400 -1 BC). Consequently, the Cerro Oreja collection holds a key to understanding the development of one of the earliest and most extensive states in the Americas. The teeth and/or alveoli of each individual were examined for the presence of dental caries, periodontal disease, abscesses, and antemortem tooth loss. My analysis suggests women and children did increasingly focus their diet on agricultural products. These findings seem to support the hypothesis that increased irrigation and reliance on agricultural production was fundamental to the development of the Moche state. However, men’s diets remained consistent through time. Status seems to have been of little import in determining diet before and during early periods of state development, in dramatic contrast to what we know of its importance during the zenith of the state’s power. I suggest that increasing differentiation of gender roles was important to the development of the state, and that gender differences may have been the most salient force in the transition to political hierarchy and social stratification in the Moche valley.

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