Pacatnamu

Pacatnamu landscape.

Explorers had mentioned the site of Pacatnamu since the late 1800s, but the site was not studied in detail until 1925. Kroeber made some sketches of the main architectural features of the site but only of one portion of the site. Archaeological excavations first began in 1937–39 by German archaeologist Heinrich Ubbelohde-Doering. He conducted more excavations in 1952–53 and again in 1962–63. His work resulted in more excavations of more pyramid complexes.

Wolfgang and Giesela Hecker joined Ubbelohde-Doering on his 1962–63 excavations. They produced a general map of the site as a whole as well as some detailed maps of the architectural features. Richard Keatinge conducted an extensive surface survey in 1974 and published several brief reports on his findings. In 1983 the Instituto Nacional de Cultura in Lima approved the Museum of Cultural History at the University of California, Los Angeles request to do a five-year excavation permit at Pacatanamu. This excavation was extremely successful and from their research they produced hundreds of artifacts and created a chronology of occupation for the site.[1]

There are two periods of occupation at the site: an early period when Moche ceramics were in use, and a later period characterized by the use of Chimu ceramics. Brick serration used in construction allows us to see a chronology of occupation within each of those times of occupation. Pacatnamu was unoccupied before the end of Moche IV or the beginning of the Moche V (ca. A.D. 600). During this Moche period some ceremonial architecture was constructed. During this time of occupation ceramics clearly show some Huari influence, but the textiles are clearly Moche. Also the burials from this time simply reflect Moche styles. Near the end of Moche occupation (ca. A.D. 900) a new ceramic form appeared which signaled the end of the Moche occupation. In approximately A.D. 1050 there is a break between the Moche occupation and Chimu occupation.

This period coincides with extensive flooding in this area and a dramatic change in nearly all artifact types. Around A.D. 1100–1150 there was another large population living in Pacatnamu with a new style of ceramics, textiles and bricks, and new architectural forms that help us date the sites occupational periods. The second period of population is known as the Chimu occupation. Major walls were built at this time because of a need for defense. There is a bit of unfinished wall to the north, which suggests they were trying to expand near the end of their occupation. Not much is known about why the Chimu occupation ended but it happened sometime around A.D. 1370. It is possible that more populations occupied Pacatnamu after 1370, but by the time the Inca conquered the North Coast the site was mostly in ruins.

The structure of leadership at Pacatnamu is hard to determine because many archaeologists believe it was strictly a ceremonial or pilgrimage site, however Gumerman mentions that some of her research indicates that the elite of Pacatnamu were considered administrative and ritual specialists who were removed from subsistence production. This means the nobility had a place in a governmental/ ritualistic power over others. Some architectural features throughout the site show that peoples of higher rank in the over arching Chimu or Moche culture would come here for ceremonies, so there are special place for them, but there are no names of documents available stating direct leadership in the site of Pacatnamu. In general the architecture throughout the site is an indication of wealth and power differences; the more powerful received grander styles of monumental architecture while the commoners had a very common plain style of architecture.

There are no sources indicating that the site of Pacatnamu had a centralized government or leadership system, therefore many archaeologists believe Pacatnamu was a part of a greater civilization. Later periods of occupation show the residence building defensive walls, but later research into those walls suggests that while one main reason for their construction is defense it isn't the only reason. The walls have many functions, but there needed many hands to help build them, so their construction may be because a lord or king asked for them to be built and sent peasants to do the labor.

The building of the sites many walls suggests that there was an actual need for defense or whoever controlled the site perceived a threat, either way there have to be an army to help defend the city should it be attacked. While there is no documentation of a physical army or a battle happening at Pacatnamu the walls suggest that a height standing person asked for them because they could with their status and therefore there must have also been an army to help protect those walls.

The architecture of the site has been studied extensively and many of the large courtyards throughout the site have a right-left oriented structure. For Pacatnamu the more grandiose buildings with more ceremonial artifacts are found down hallways towards the right while down the left side hallways we find more debris less monumental structures. These left side hallways usually lead to areas that were used for storage or food preparation. The main monumental pyramid, Huaca 1, is surrounded by high walls that completely block the view of the mound from view, these walls have been speculated to keep those who were not allowed to know about or join in on the ceremonies, so this creates a hierarchy of those who can participate and know what's going on and those who cannot. The variation of artifacts throughout the site indicates that those of higher rank had more specialized and unique items and more complex architectural buildings were as the commoners had non-monumental structures and less fine wear beads and textiles.

Many of the studied burials at Pacatnamu have many grave goods such as, textiles, ceramics, sacrifices, copper and more. There isn't much differentiation between burials in terms of what's found in them, but some people are buried closer to ceremonial buildings like Huaca 1 and there are some people actually buried within the pyramid itself so that sets them apart from other people. All the burials at Pacatnamu have textiles, which were very important to this culture, ceramics, and copper. Lama sacrifices were important for ceremonies and are rare to find in burials, but there is evidence of this. The textiles found rage in their preservation and the overall quality of the item, the most impressive textiles are associated with people with more status, but there isn't anything else in the burials alerting us to the person’s identity.

Many of the burials at Pacatnamu have been looted so many of the skeletons have been badly damaged. In many all that kind be determined is the age of the person, but not their sex. Around the entrance of Huaca 1 is found a mass burial of mutilated young men. There are three separate burials all on top of one another; each burial was done at a different time. All 14 of the bodies found are of men around the age of 14, many of them died by multiple stab wounds to the chest and back region and it's speculated that multiple people did the stabbing. It's hard to determine why exactly these individuals met with this end, but it may have been part of a ceremony because it's obvious these individuals were not chosen at random. According to ethnohistoric evidence we know that some people accused of rebellion in Incan culture had many different punishments and many of these individuals share these injuries.

"Pacatnamu offers "laboratory conditions" for the study of the art, architecture, and population of a major religious center shaped by the dynamics of local development and foreign conquest." - Christopher B. Donnan

Throughout the history of Pacatnamu many archaeologists believed it to be a major ceremonial and pilgrimage center for the Jequetepeque valley as a whole, but new evidence suggests that Pacatnamu was likely only used for ceremonies and for political and administrative uses and not for pilgrimages because of the lack of ceramics from the larger Jequetepeque valley and the burials in Pacatnamu suggest only the immediate residents and not a larger population of people. There are no written records from Pacatnamu even after Spanish colonial expansion. By the time the Incas controlled much of Peru the site was already in ruins. Much of its specific history still remains mostly a mystery to us.

Overall the general architecture from the Moche period leads us to believe it was a ceremonial or administrative center. There is monumental architecture, which demonstrates that it was the place of many ritual and ceremonies. The only evidence of rituals or ceremonies the offering room and the ritual burial near one of the defensive walls, mentioned earlier. The offering room confused archaeologists when it was first discovered in 1984. It was discovered in the Huaca 1complexe. There were two other rooms connected to it, but they were both completely empty except for room 3, the actual site of the ritual. The room was very full of artifacts including ceramics, bone (both human and camelid), metal, textile, shell, and organic residue. The whole room showed evidence of being burned once all the artifacts had been stored inside. Before this discovery the archaeologists had never encountered this ritual, but in 1995 at the site of Dos Cabezas there was a similar room found with almost exactly the same items inside of it.

There is already a tradition in Peru of burning offering so to give them to the gods instead of keeping them on earth. The Incas often burned textiles every morning to begin the day making the gods happy.

In Pacatnamu there isn't sufficient evidence to name or actually identify persons of higher ranking, such as kings or priests, but there are a few graves North of Huaca 31 that have evidence of high status people. We have no evidence about specific gods that the people of Pacatnamu believed in.

Although in the later periods of occupation the Chimu people built an extensive wall system it has been argued that the main point of these walls was not in fact for protection because of the many doors built into the walls. It is obvious thought that the Chimu were expanding Pacatnamu. There is no evidence of warfare specifically, but the mass burial of young men may be an indication that there was a small battle or the mass burial was for strictly religious purposes. Pacatnamu has no written documents to make a historical chronology off of, even once the Spanish arrived they never mention Pacatnamu, this is likely because when they arrive the site is already in ruins and abandoned.

There was no writing system used in Pacatnamu, so we have no documents or written records to research, but textiles were an extremely important feature of the cultures of Peru and South America. Many of these textiles depict important rituals and ceremonies so they can almost be interpreted as a written document in a more artistic form.

The date usually given for the end of the main period of occupation of Pacatnamu is around A.D 1370. Donnan and Cock speculate that there was probably a small group of people who continued to live there, but it was not very extensive. The majority of the population probably left in response to the Chimu conquest of the lower Jequetepeque Valley whose capital was at Chan Chan. Although there was a small group of people in Pacatnamu during this period by the time the Inca conquered the northern coast (A.D 1470) the site of Pacatnamu was empty.

There is no indication of why the people finally decided to leave for good, but the site still had significance to outsiders, there is some evidence that people went back and had small ceremonies there, but these were probably only a few families and by no means was it a pilgrimage center. Offerings still appear during the early part of the colonial period, but after this time the site loses its use because no colonial documents note its location or significance.

7°19′7″S 79°34′56″W