About the Moche

The Moche were an advanced early civilization that flourished in northern Peru from A.D. 50-800.

CERAMICS: The Moche pioneered the use of press molds to produce large numbers of ceramic vessels, which circulated primarily among the upper classes of the society.  Despite the fact that many basic forms were mass-produced, Moche ceramics reached a high level of artistic achievement in the finishing details of modeling and painting. Realistic portrayals of humans, animals and plants are characteristic of the Moche style. Their beautifully sculpted pottery speaks eloquently of love, sex, warfare, ritual, sickness and healing.

POLITICAL: The Moche's political organizations, probably small and perhaps unstable states, were established through conflict and conquest. For these first states of the Andes Mountains, the Moche had capitals such as the site of Moche, nor far from the modern city of Trujillo. Gabled buildings and solid molded abode brick platforms with ramps are characteristic of Moche architecture.

CEREMONIAL COMPLEX: The Moche also depicted facets of their spiritual and material world on the walls of their more important buildings. Near the capital, the Moche built and enormous ceremonial complex, flanked by two large pyramidal complexes called Huaca del Sol (Pyramid of the Sun) and Huaca de la Luna (Pyramid of the Moon). Here, colorful frescoes depict a fierce deity known today as the Decapitator God. The wealth of imagery in the various media have sometimes been taken as a broad record of the Moche world, but convincing arguments suggest that in fact the Moche were only portraying a very select group of objects and themes, perhaps derived from a pervasive mythology of the culture.

  Huaca del Sol is 131 feet high, 1,115 feet long and 525 feet wide. It is estimated that more than 100 million sun-baked bricks were used in its construction. Large looting operations were conducted by the Spanish conquerors, and colonial documents indicate that great treasures were found there. This suggests it was a burial place for the elite.

The smaller Huaca de la Luna is distinguished by its wall murals, which show a variety of painted figures in low relief. Some of these seem to represent deities associated with human decapitation, and other evidence seems to indicate that this religious center witnessed elaborate rituals perhaps involving human sacrifice.

SIPAN: Well to the north, in the valley of Lambayeque, is Sipan, where Peru's richest unlooted tombs were discovered and excavated by archeologist Walter Alva. The pyramid at Sipan was not the burial place of a single Moche lord, rather it was a necropolis containing what may be interpreted as a whole lineage of leaders. At least three tombs remained intact when Alva began his excavations. There he found superb objects of Moche gold unsurpassed in detail and workmanship. A display of Sipan finds are currently on display at the national museum in Lima.

(Excerpts from "Empires of Mystery"

 by Federico Kauffman-Doig, 1998)

 

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