ABSTRACT
The cultures of the period A.D. 100 to 600 had brought to maturity the
religious, political, social, and economic structures developed during the
preceding three thousand years. However, as a result of a series of natural
disasters, things began to fall apart beginning about the mid-sixth cen-
tury. E l Niño episodes occurred in A.D. 546 and 576, but even so a thirty-
two-year drought of Old Testament proportions that began in A.D. 562
probably "dried the well" in the case of the Moche. E l Niño brought
floods, devastating erosion, and partial washouts of the life-giving irriga-
tion systems. Earthquakes also occurred and tilted the systems so that the
carefully calculated gradients no long worked. These calamities resulted in
famine and an increase in diseases, aggravating the miseries of the already
stricken populations. In turn, these misfortunes led to the downfall of the
elites supported by those populations (Moseley 1992:209-212). The no-
ble courts that had existed in each of the major Moche valleys apparently
fell into disrepute and in some cases were held responsible by their people
for the disasters. The main capital at Cerro Blanco (Moche Valley) was
abandoned. A new capital, Pampa Grande, was established in the Lam-
bayeque Valley, away from the some of the worst effects of the natural cat-
astrophes, and yet it lasted only a century and was also beset by floods and
abandoned by A.D. 750. The city was burned at the end, and yet another
new center established under new leadership. This change led to the even-
tual revitalization of the North Coast, but first we must examine a re-
markable empire that was built at this time with its capital in the Central
Highlands.
