Prehistoric diet and subsistence of the Moche Valley, Peru

A study of plant and animal remains from eleven archaeological sites in the Moche Valley, Peru, revealed that three major subsistence patterns prevailed between the time of the first permanent settlements (c. 2500 B.C.) and the arrival of the Spaniards (a.d. 1532). The first permanent settlements were predicated on marine resources and gave way gradually to larger inland polities with irrigation agriculture and a non‐marine animal protein source. The final shift saw the development of the Chimu state and associated satellite communities established to provide specific goods and services and linked to the state through an extensive system of redistribution. All three patterns are examined in terms of changes in diet and subsistence, and some effort is made to place them in proper cultural perspective.