The Fall of the Moche: A Critique of Claims for South America’s First State

Abstract

Abstract The Moche archaeological culture of the North Coast of Peru has been reified into a political system and claimed as the first state in South America. While some recent scholarship has reduced the size of the proposed state, the idea of Moche as a distinct political, social, or ethnic entity remains. In this article we demonstrate that even by the “classic” neoevolutionary theory of the 1960s—1980s the criteria for Moche statehood were not met. We suggest that neoevolutionary models for one or more Moche states are inadequate for understanding an archaeological culture that endured for more than six centuries, and we offer suggestions for directions for future research.