The Pampa de Chaparrí: Water, Land, and Politics on the North Coast of Peru

Abstract

Large-scale irrigation agriculture formed the economic backbone of civilizations on the north coast of Peru. Contrary to the notion that large systems required the guiding hand of the state, historical sources suggest that management was largely local and segmentary. At the same time, water and land are a potential source of economic and political power for state administrators who may intervene in the supervision and management of farming. The Pampa de Chaparrí, in the Lambayeque region, is an unusually well-preserved system of canals, fields, and settlements where the dynamics of water, land and politics can be observed. Systematic survey documented a Middle Sicán (A.D. 900-1100), Late Sicán (A.D. 1100-1375), Chimú (A.D. 1375-1460) and Inka (A.D. 1460-1532) occupation. During Middle and Late Sicán, settlement patterns reflect the segmentary organization described in historical accounts. With conquest by the Chimú and Inka Empires, state administrative centers were constructed, existing social groups were reorganized and communities and households were transformed. Thus, though local management is an effective and stable strategy for managing large irrigation systems, the wealth and power that these systems represent make them potential targets for more direct state control, with significant consequences for local inhabitants.

Landscape and Environment: Insights from the Prehispanic Central Andes

“…A similar focus on the importance of fresh water as resource explicitly informed Kosok's work (1965) and prompted focus on the Peruvian coast as a laboratory for examining Wittfogel's (1957) hypotheses on the links between irrigation and developing social complexity (e.g., Billman 2002;Eling 1987;Golte 1980;Hayashida 2006;Moseley and Deeds 1982;Netherly 1984;Price 1971;Steward et al 1955).…”

“…Canal systems, dating back to the mid-Holocene, have been documented in coastal Peru for decades (Dillehay et al 2005;Eling 1986;Farrington 1980;Hayashida 2006;Kosok 1965;Moseley and Deeds 1982;Netherly 1984;Park 1983;Schreiber and Lancho Rojas 2003). Sunken field systems (Moseley 1969;Ojeda Enriquez 1987;Parsons 1968;Parsons and Psuty 1975;Rowe 1969;Smith 1979), water-table farming (West 1979), capture of moisture from fog drip (Benfer et al 1987), and floodwater farming (West 1981) also have been recorded.…”

“…Recent work in the central Andes addresses precisely these issues (e.g., Contreras 2007;Hayashida 2006;Hesse 2008;Rigsby et al 2003;Zaro and Umire Á lvarez 2005). The long history of research focused on environment and landscape in the central Andes provides a firm grounding, and these recent research programs suggest ways that reciprocal human-environment interactions may be addressed archaeologically.…”

New Insights into the Evolution of an Intervalley Prehistoric Irrigation Canal System, North Coastal Peru

“…The Racarumi Intervalley Canal system (RICS) located in the Lambayeque region of north coastal Peru is one of the largest pre-Hispanic water-control systems in the Americas (Kosok, 1965). The RICS operated approximately 600 years and withstood social and political upheaval associated with changing Sicán polities and conquest by the Chimú and Inka (Shimada, 2000;Hayashida, 2006; Table I). The RICS operated approximately 600 years and withstood social and political upheaval associated with changing Sicán polities and conquest by the Chimú and Inka (Shimada, 2000;Hayashida, 2006; Table I).…”

“…Historical documents indicate that the canal system was abandoned soon after Spanish contact in the 1560s when the remaining population was relocated to what is now the modern town of Ferreñafe (Zevallos Quiñones, 1975:156). Excellent preservation of RICS infrastructure provides an opportunity to study canal formation processes in a hyperarid environment and apply AMS-14 C and single-grain luminescence dating to test existing models of canal system growth and management (Hayashida, 2006). Excellent preservation of RICS infrastructure provides an opportunity to study canal formation processes in a hyperarid environment and apply AMS-14 C and single-grain luminescence dating to test existing models of canal system growth and management (Hayashida, 2006).…”