VIRÚ-GALLINAZO AND MOCHICA TECHNICAL TRADITION AND CERAMIC PRODUCTION: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TWO SOCIAL GROUPS OF THE EARLY INTERMEDIATE PERIOD ON THE NORTHERN COAST OF PERU

Abstract

For a long time, the Virú-Gallinazo populations were considered as the predecessors of the Mochicas, when recent investigations tend to show that they both coexisted during the Early Intermediate Period (200 B.C.-600 A.D.) on the Northern Coast of Peru. The systematic use of typology to define ancient cultures explains in great part this confusion. The research presented aim to define the cultural filiations of these two groups, by a comparison of their ceramic production modes. In this context, we use ceramic technology to define technical traditions associated to social groups. This methodology consists in the study of ceramic manufacture, by analyzing surface features at a macroscopic and microscopic scale, on the surfaces and sections. This methodology was applied on 4212 ceramics from five collections. These analyses lead to the identification of three technical traditions: the hammering associated to the Virú-Gallinazo ceramic production and the coiling and molding for the Mochica production context. It then appears that the Virú-Gallinazo and Mochica populations didn’t belong to the same community of practice, but still maintained frequent contacts. Ceramic technology then represents a powerful approach to go beyond typological and stylistic descriptions in order to define cultural filiations.