In the late 15th century, two empires collided on the north coast of Peru. The highland-
based Inka came down the river valleys on the western slopes of the Andes, determined to subdue their largest remaining rival, the Chimú. Each side employed a different strategy. For the Inka, rapid, well-supplied troop movement required the construction of road infrastructure and a state controlled economic system designed to extract agricultural goods for the logistical support of armies on the march. For the Chimú, a system of labor conscription and reciprocal
redistribution was likely used in the construction of a series of hilltop sites designed for defense in depth. These sites relied on view for defense, so that highland raiding parties and later foreign armies could be met with Chimú force.
Caught in the middle of this conflict was the small site of Cerro Cumbray. As previously discussed, Cerro Cumbray was not designed to withstand sustained assaults. It was vulnerable to siege given its lack of internal water sources. However, neither was it a completely defenseless village, woefully unprepared for the violence of its time. The site was inhabited by a small group who likely farmed fields in the valley below and returned to site for security in times of conflict. Ceramic evidence tentatively dates the site to the Middle to Late Chimú phases, a tumultuous time marked by increased conflict. The high numbers of food and water storage vessels seem to indicate a preoccupation with keeping supplied in the case of raiders attacking. The population of Cerro Cumbray lived in an insecure world.
While the site lacks the parapeted walls and internal water sources that would make it truly hardened, a concern with security is nevertheless evident in the gate and wall construction defending the approach to the site. Likewise, the slingstones and defensive architecture seen in Sector 3 represent an effort to fortify the remaining approach. The site’s overall location on a
hilltop meant that natural cliffs were the main defensive feature, and substantial architectural investment wasn’t necessary. The site’s residential area is understandably positioned with the Sector 3 bastion on one side, the gate and walls of Sector 1 on the other, and steep cliffs to the front and back.
A further emphasis on security can be seen in the site’s viewshed. The site was focused on the approach down the Sinsicap valley from Cerro Ramon, likely anticipating occasional raiding parties descending from the highlands. As the existential threat of the Inka appeared, it’s likely that the site continued to be occupied in order to monitor the progress of an approaching army. From Cerro Cumbray, an observer could monitor a large proportion of the path from Cerro Ramon as well as small pieces of the approach from Rogoday. This information was likely filtered back to larger, more well-fortified settlements further down the Moche Valley. As such, Cerro Cumbray represents not only a local refuge but a small lookout point in the larger Chimú defensive network. The analysis presented herein supports this refuge and signaling function, but the data used for this analysis was limited. By considering the limitations of this study, we can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this project as well as plan more thoroughly for future projects.
Reflections and Future Research
As stated in the Preface, the field season of summer 2019 was cut short by illness and time constraints. This combined with the steep slopes on either side of Cerro Cumbray’s main ridgeline limited pedestrian survey to the tops of the ridge. Diagnostic sherds had to be
expediently identified in the field, and the skill of the author likely influenced these
distinguish by surface color. The digitization of rim profiles from field photographs is ongoing, and may help more specifically identify the spatial distribution of certain forms.
Aerial photography helped clarify the function of several areas of the site, such as in Figures 15 and 16. However, it could be further integrated into the spatial analysis presented in Chapter 5. The finer resolution of the DEM produced from aerial photogrammetry may have yielded slightly more accurate results than the ASTER GDEM data. Likewise, the integration of Tobler’s hiking function could more accurately model pedestrian traffic in the least-cost model discussed in Chapter 5. Nevertheless, the least-cost paths and viewsheds presented in Chapter 5 present a useful baseline for analysis, and they are sufficiently accurate for the purposes of distinguishing the three least-cost path polygons. However, more accurate models of both viewsheds as well as possible paths would be useful in analyzing patterns among many of the smaller sites in the Moche Valley.
The research potential of these small sites, like Cerro Cumbray, is considerable. Many sites in the Moche valley are too small to be worth excavating or investigating individually in depth. However, taken as an aggregate, a database of these small sites could be analyzed using modern GIS techniques. GIS based research into the role of Cerro Cumbray and other small sites within the larger Chimú defensive network would deepen our understanding of the degree to which the Chimú positioned sites with viewsheds of strategic paths in mind. This would expand on previous discussion of Moche Valley visibility by including sites without so called “defensive features” (Mullins 2016: 349). By examining Mullins’ and Billman’s surveys of the Moche Valley, future researchers could apply this idea of viewshed-path interaction to a larger dataset of these seemingly trivial small sites. This work could even be done remotely, reducing the need for students to fund costly international travel to engage in independent research.
A larger dataset would also allow for investigations of landscape permeability. This concept has recently gained traction in discussions of species movement by wildlife biologists, but it could be modified to examine the mobility of prehistoric human groups using GIScience. Currently a complex analysis requiring a high degree of technical competence, it is likely that methods of examining landscape permeability will become more accessible in the near future.
The value of studying these small sites is not in a singular, blockbuster publication. Rather, it is materialized in many small steps forward. The value becomes apparent as opportunities to learn and develop techniques emerge, and fanciful ideas are tempered by the harsh realities of fieldwork and real world archaeology. Nevertheless, future studies of the Late Intermediate Period Moche Valley will improve our understanding of the areas prehistory as they set about drawing these smaller sites into the fold.