ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the coastal region of the Andes, specifically in the Jequetepeque Valley of North Coast Peru. By addressing caravan trade from the perspective of camelid use and mobility, the people contribute two previously unaddressed zooarchaeological assemblages with detail on the herd structures of these two important sites. The consistency between the distribution of different portions of the camelid body at both Huaca La Capilla and Huaca Colorada reinforces a suggestion that contact throughout the Jequetepeque Valley in the Late Moche period could have been effectively facilitated by commensal activities to support social cooperation. The social and economic investment to care for these animals and then to use them for public events and feasts indicates the integral role that camelids and caravan networks played in the mechanisms for social cohesion and cooperation during periods of integration in the Jequetepeque Valley.
