Cuidad de Dios is a small Moche habitation site located in the middle Moche Valley some 18 kilometers from the Huacas de Moche capital of the Southern Moche polity. The site dates to the Middle Moche Period (ca AD 400-600). There are no ceremonial or public architecture at the site, which seems to have functions as a farming community.
The habitation area includes an area of approxiamtely 3.3 hectares, located on five finger ridges above the valley floor. Each of the five ridges have masonry construction with a few dozen rooms and patio areas. These areas were living, working and storage spaces for the community.
Craft workshops in evidence at Cuidad de Dios includes the production of chicha beer, coarseware pottery and metal objects. Contact with the larger Moche community is in evidence.
Cuidad de Dios was the focus of archaeological investigations by the Moche Origins Project between 1998 and 2002 under the direction of Brian Billman and with the various support of Instituto Nacional de Cultura in Lima and Trujillo, the UNC-Chapel Hill, and the UNC Institute for Latin American Studies.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Moche, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Ringberg JE. 2008. Figurines, household rituals, and the use of domestic space in a Middle Moche rural community. In: Castillo LJ, Bernier H, Lockard G, and Rucabado J, editors. Arqueología Mochica: Nuevos Enfoques. Lima: Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos y Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. p 341-357.
