The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas Volume I, II, and III

Evolution of Andean Diversity ($00 B.C.E.-C.E. 600) 471
society. In construction of canals and roads, different segments of the
same length were prepared in distinct manners, suggesting involvement
of labor gangs from different communities. In fact, it has been argued
that conscripted labor formed the basis of the Mochica economy. In craft
production, this approach meant a set of similarly organized and
equipped workshops in the same general area (usually interconnected by
shared corridors or patios) engaged in the same craft. They produced the
same whole objects or complementary parts to be assembled elsewhere.
Much of the day-to-day productive activity was apparently unsupervised.
However, procurement of raw materials and distribution of products are
believed to have been supervised. Production thus had some degree of
autonomy at the level of individual production units, but at the same
time, a certain level of output and quality through replication and competition
was assured. Even in ceramic production we see a balancing act
between individuality and replication; molds were used extensively to
assure replication of the same forms and quality as well as a good level of
output; subsequent painting allowed artisans some degree of individualistic
expression within the limits set by established artistic conventions
and canons. Achieving and maintaining this balance probably contributed
to the beauty, mastery, and longevity of Mochica arts and crafts.
Evidence from Pampa Grande in the Lambayeque Valley, the capital
of the Northern Mochica during Phase V (Fig. 5.32), suggests that production
at least of utilitarian craft goods in an urban setting was underwritten
by "institutionalized hospitality." It is apparent that workers in
metal (copper objects) and weaving (cotton cloth) workshops were provided
with food and beer prepared in detached kitchens, which cooked
beans and maize stored in nearby small, state-controlled storage facilities.
Workers appear to have commuted daily from their residences to the
workshops in other areas of the city. The status of these workers remains
unclear (were they full-time state retainers or conscripted workers?), but
it is evident that the principle of reciprocity governing the state-subject
relationship in the Inka empire (see Chap. 10) can be traced back in time
to at least circa C.E. 600. However, production of ritual and elite status
goods, such as Spondylus beads and pendants, seems to have been much
more closely supervised, with workshops set within walled enclosures
with restricted access and major platform mounds. Workers involved in
the latter may well have been "attached specialists" — that is, full-time
state retainers producing sumptuary goods for the state's political economy.
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