Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2024-05-17T15:30:46.324Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal: Social Explanations and Physical Paradigms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Charles R. Ortloff ,
Michael E. Moseley  and
Robert A. Feldman
Charles R. Ortloff
Affiliation:
FMC Corporation, Central Engineering Laboratories, Santa Clara, CA 95052
Michael E. Moseley
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605
Robert A. Feldman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Antithetical premises of a static versus dynamic Andean landscape produce contradictory interpretations of the Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal. On a static landscape, inoperable canal gradients must be explained by social parameters such as poor surveying or construction techniques. The paradigm of Plate Tectonics and evidence of ongoing crustal convergence support an alternative premise of continuous, gradual landscape alteration and ground slope change. This premise provides a physical explanation for why abandoned canals often exhibit uphill gradients and ancient monuments are frequently not level. However, this premise also requires that complex methods in the engineering analysis of slope-altered structures be made explicit. Assessment of landscape alteration utilizes basic principles of physical geology, but their application to a particular study area must take local conditions into consideration. Similarly, analysis of the hydraulic properties of an irrigation canal utilizes basic principles of fluid dynamics, but local conditions must be considered in deciding which formulas to use and how to apply them. Improper application of geological principles and hydraulic equations has led our critics to incorrect results.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , April 1983 , pp. 375 - 389
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Barazangi, M., and Isacks, B. L. 1976 Spatial Distribution of Earthquakes and Subduction of the Nazca Plate Beneath South America. Geology 4:686–692.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cossio, A., and Jaen, H. 1967 Geologia de los Cuadrangulos de Puemape, Chocope, Otuzco, Trujillo, Salaverry y Santa. Serviciode Geologia y Mineria, Boletin 17. Lima, Peru.Google Scholar
Donnan, C. B., and Ortloff, C. R. 1982 Ground Slope Change at the Chotuna Complex, Peru. Ms. on file, Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Ericksen, G. E., Plafker, G., and Concha, J. F. 1970 Preliminary Report on the Geological Events Associated with the May 31, 1970 Peru Earthquake.United States Geological Survey Circular 639.Google Scholar
Farrington, I. S. 1980 The Archaeology of Irrigation Canals, with Special References to Peru. World Archaeology 11:287–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrington, I. S. 1983 The Design and Function of the Intervalley Canal: Comments on a Paper by Ortloff, Moseley, and Feldman. American Antiquity 48:360–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herd, D. G., Youd, T. L., Meyer, H., Arango, J. L., Person, W. J., and Mendoza, C. 1981 The Great Tumaco, Colombia Earthquake of 12 December 1979. Science 211:441–445.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, D. E. 1971 Plate Tectonics Model for the Evolution of the Central Andes. Geological Society of America Bulletin 82:3325–3346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kus, J. S. 1972 Selected Aspects of Irrigated Agriculture in the Chimu Heartland, Peru. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Kus, J. S. 1974 Irrigation and Urbanization in Prehispanic Peru: The Moche Valley. Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers 536:45–56. Corvallis, Oregon.Google Scholar
Morris, H., and Wiggert, J. 1972 Applied Hydraulics in Engineering. Ronald Press, New York.Google Scholar
Moseley, M. E., Feldman, R. A., and Ortloff, C. R. 1982a Principles of Agrarian Collapse in the Cordillera Negra, Peru. Ms. on file, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.Google Scholar
Moseley, M. E. Feldman, R. A., Ortloff, C. R., Pozorski, T. G., Pozorski, S. G., Nials, F. L., and Deeds, E. E. 1982b The Dynamics of Agrarian Collapse in Coastal Peru. Report submitted to the National ScienceFoundation on the results of Grant BNS 77-24901.Google Scholar
Ortloff, C .R., Moseley, M. E., and Feldman, R. A. 1982 Hydraulic Engineering Aspects of the Chimu Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal. American Antiquity47:572-595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pippin, L. C. 1977 Pollen Analysis of Prehistoric Field and Canal Sediments from the Rio Moche Valley, Peru: A Progress Report. Ms. on file, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.Google Scholar
Plafker, G., Ericksen, G. E., and Concha, J. F. 1971 Geological Aspects of the May 31, 1970 Peru Earthquake. Bulletin of the Seismologicol Society of America 61:543–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pozorski, S. G. 1976 Prehistoric Subsistence Patterns and Site Economics in the Moche Valley, Peru. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, Austin. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Pozorski, T., and Pozorski, S. 1981 Reinterpeting the Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal: Comments on “Hydraulic Engineering Aspectsof the Chimu Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal.” Ms. in possession of the authors, Section of Man, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pozorski, T., and Pozorski, S. 1982 Reassessing the Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal: Comments on “Hydraulic Engineering Aspects ofthe Chimu Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal.” American Antiquity 47:851–868.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandweiss, D. H., Rollins, H. B., and Richardson, J. B., III 1981 Landscape Alteration, Shellfish Exploitation and Prehistoric Occupation Along the North Coast of Peru. Ms. on file, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Wyss, M. 1978 Sea Level Changes Before Large Earthquakes. Earthquake Information Bulletin 10(5):165–168. U.S.Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.Google Scholar
Zeil, W. 1979 The Andes, A Geological Review. Beitrage zur Regionalen Geologie der Erde, Band 13. Gebriider Borntraeger, Berlin.Google Scholar