Lima political process and social reorganization from the perspective of Intermediate groups: the case of Lote B

Abstract

This article explores the case of an intermediate group inhabiting the Lurin Valley on the Central Coast of Peru and its role in the valley’s integration within the context of regional politics at the beginning of the Middle Horizon. This
research presents and analyzes how political strategies were constructed in the valley, incorporating data from excavations at the site of Lote B. Additionally, evidence published about other domestic sites in Lurin is discussed in order to partially reconstruct the interaction between distinct segments of Lima society.This work contributes to a better understanding of the Lima culture, and to the reconstruction of its social organization. In a larger sense, we propose that the Lima culture was initially a tradition shared by a number of relatively independent groups that at the end of the Early Intermediate Period, entered into a process of progressive centralization, developing more rigid political organizations and reordering social structures. We posit that the existing intermediate groups in Lurin adopted strategies that permitted them to reformulate these new political contexts.