The Moche civilization (; alternatively, the Mochica culture or the Early, Pre- or Proto-
Chimú
Chimor (also Kingdom of Chimor or Chimú Empire) was the political grouping of the Chimú culture. The culture arose about 900 AD, succeeding the Moche culture, and was later conquered by the Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui around 1470, fifty y ...
) flourished in northern
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
with its capital near present-day
Moche, Trujillo
Moche is a Peruvian city, the capital of Moche District in Trujillo Province of La Libertad Region in northern Peru. It is located in the Moche Valley and was the center of development of the ancient Moche or Mochica culture. Now it is a major t ...
, Peru
from about 100 to 700 AD during the
Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state. Rather, they were likely a group of autonomous polities that shared a common culture, as seen in the rich
iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
and
monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...
al architecture that survives today.
Background
Moche society was agriculturally based, with a significant level of investment in the construction of a sophisticated network of irrigation canals for the diversion of river water to supply their crops. Their artifacts express their lives, with detailed scenes of hunting, fishing, fighting, sacrifice, sexual encounters, and elaborate ceremonies. The Moche are particularly noted for their elaborately painted
ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
,
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
work, monumental constructions (''
huaca
In the Quechuan languages of South America, a huaca or wak'a is an object that represents something revered, typically a monument of some kind. The term ''huaca'' can refer to natural locations, such as immense rocks. Some huacas have been asso ...
s''), and
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
systems.
Moche history may be broadly divided into three periods: the emergence of the Moche culture in Early Moche (100–300 AD), the expansion and flourishing during Middle Moche (300–600 AD), and the urban nucleation and subsequent collapse in Late Moche (500–750 AD).
The
Salinar culture reigned on the north coast of Peru from 200 BC–200 AD. According to some scholars, this was a short transition period between the
Cupisnique
The Cupisnique culture was a pre-Columbian indigenous culture that flourished from c. 1500 to 500 BC along what now is Peru's northern Pacific coast. The culture had a distinctive style of adobe clay architecture. Artifacts of the culture share art ...
and the Moche cultures.
There are considerable parallels between Moche and Cupisnique iconography and ceramic designs, including the iconography of the 'Spider god'.
Moche cultural sphere
The Moche cultural sphere is centered on several valleys on the north coast of Peru in regions
La Libertad,
Lambayeque,
Jequetepeque
Jequetepeque is a town in Northern Peru, capital of the district Jequetepeque in Pacasmayo Province of La Libertad Region. This town is located some 117 km north Trujillo city and is primarily an agricultural center in the Jequetepeque Valle ...
,
Chicama
Chicama is a town in Northern Peru, capital of the district of Chicama District, Chicama of Ascope Province in the region La Libertad Region, La Libertad. This town is located beside the Pan-American Highway some 33 km north of Trujillo, Peru, Tr ...
,
Moche,
Virú
Virú is a town in Northern Peru, capital of the province Virú in the region La Libertad. This town is located 48 km south Trujillo city and is primarily an agricultural center in the Viru Valley.
See also
*Virú Valley
The Viru Valley is l ...
,
Chao,
Santa
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...
, and Nepena. It occupied 250
mile
The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...
s of desert coastline and up to 50 miles inland.
[James E. McClellan III; Harold Dorn (2006). ]
Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction
'. JHU Press. . p. 40.
The ''
Huaca del Sol
The Huaca del Sol is an adobe brick pyramid built by the Moche civilization (100 AD to 800 AD) on the northern coast of what is now Peru. The pyramid is one of several ruins found near the volcanic peak of Cerro Blanco, in the coastal deser ...
'', a
pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
al adobe structure on the Rio Moche, was the largest pre-Columbian structure in Peru. It was partly destroyed when Spanish
Conquistadors
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...
looted its graves for gold in the 16th century. The nearby ''
Huaca de la Luna
Huaca de la Luna ("Temple or Shrine of the Moon") is a large adobe
Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such a ...
'' is better preserved, with many of its interior walls still filled with many colorful murals and complex iconography. The site has been under professional
archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
excavation since the early 1990s.
Other major Moche sites include
Sipan
Huaca Rajada, also known as Sipán, is a Moche archaeological site in northern Peru in the Lambayeque Valley, that is famous for the tomb of ''Lord of Sipán'' (El Señor de Sipán), excavated by Walter Alva and his wife Susana Meneses beginni ...
, Loma Negra, Dos Cabezas,
Pacatnamu
The Pacatnamu ( Mochica : ''Pakatnamú'', Spanish : ''Pacatnamú'') site is located at the mouth of the Jequetepeque Valley on the northern coast of Peru. Rocky cliffs protect two of its sides and a manmade wall protects the third. This area o ...
, the
El Brujo
Located in the Chicama Valley, the El Brujo Archaeological Complex, just north of Trujillo, La Libertad Province, Peru, is an ancient archaeological site that was occupied from preceramic times. Considering the broad cultural sequencing, th ...
complex, Mocollope, Cerro Mayal, Galindo,
Huanchaco
Huanchaco is a popular seaside resort city in province of Trujillo, Peru. Huanchaco is known for its surf breaks, its caballitos de totora and its ceviche, and is near the ancient ruins of Chan Chan. Huanchaco was approved as a World Surfing Res ...
, and
Pañamarka.
Their adobe
huacas
In the Quechuan languages of South America, a huaca or wak'a is an object that represents something revered, typically a monument of some kind. The term ''huaca'' can refer to natural locations, such as immense rocks. Some huacas have been assoc ...
have been mostly destroyed by
looters and natural forces over the last 1,300 years. The surviving ones show that the coloring of their murals was quite vibrant.
Southern and Northern Moche
Two distinct regions of the Moche civilization have been identified, Southern and Northern Moche, with each area probably corresponding to a different political entity.
The Southern Moche region, believed to be the heartland of the culture, originally comprised the Chicama and Moche valleys, and was first described by
Rafael Larco Hoyle
Rafael Larco Hoyle (18 May 1901 in Chicama Valley, Peru – 23 October 1966, Lima), raised at Chiclin, his family's estate, was sent to school in Maryland, United States, at the age of twelve. He later entered Cornell University to study agric ...
.
The Huaca del Sol-Huaca de la Luna site was probably the capital of this region.
The Northern Moche region includes three valley systems:
*The upper Piura Valley, around the
Vicús culture
Vicús culture was an important early culture in Peru from 1000/200 BCE to 300/600 CE.Ransom, Brian (2000)"The Enigma of Whistling Water Jars in Pre-Columbian Ceramics."/ref> They lived in the Piura region in the northern Pacific coast of Peru. ...
region
*The lower Lambayeque Valley system, consisting of three rivers: La Leche, Reque and Zaña
*The lower Jequetepeque Valley system
The Piura was fully part of the Moche phenomenon only for a short time—during its Early Moche, or Early Moche-Vicús phase—and then developed independently.
It appears that there was a lot of independent development among these various Moche centers (except in the eastern regions). They all likely had ruling dynasties of their own, related to each other. Centralized control of the whole Moche area may have taken place from time to time, but appears infrequent.
Pampa Grande
:''Were you looking for the Bolivian community known as Pampagrande?''
Pampa Grande is an archaeological site located in the Lambayeque Valley, in northern Peru, situated on the south shore of the Chancay River.Shimada, Izumi 1976 Socioeconomic ...
, in the Lambayeque Valley, on the shore of the Chancay River, became one of the largest Moche sites anywhere, and occupied an area of more than 400 hectares. It was prominent in the Moche V period (600–700 AD), and features an abundance of Moche V ceramics.
The site was laid out and built in a short period of time and has an enormous ceremonial complex. It includes ''Huaca Fortaleza'', which is the tallest ceremonial platform in Peru.
San Jose de Moro
San Jose de Moro is a Moche culture, Moche archaeological site in the Pacanga District, Chepén Province, La Libertad Region, of Northwestern Peru. The site served as a ceremonial funerary complex between the years 400 and 1000 AD.
Region
The si ...
is another northern site in the Jequetepeque valley. It was prominent in the Middle and Late Moche Periods (400–850 AD). Numerous Moche tombs have been excavated here, including several burials containing high status female individuals. These women were depicted in Moche iconography as ''the Priestess''.
Material culture
Ceramics
Moche pottery is some of the most varied in the world. The use of
mold technology is evident, which would have enabled the mass production of certain forms. But Moche ceramics vary widely in shape and theme, with most important social activities documented in pottery, including war, agriculture,
metalwork
Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...
,
weaving
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...
, and
erotica
Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use a ...
.
Traditional north coast Peruvian
ceramic art
Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whi ...
uses a limited palette, relying primarily on red and white colors, fineline painting, fully modeled clay, veristic figures, and stirrup spouts. Moche ceramics created between 150–800 AD epitomize this style. Moche pots have been found not just at major north coast archaeological sites, such as Huaca de la luna, Huaca del sol, and Sipan, but also at small villages and unrecorded burial sites as well.
![Huaca del Sol - Août 2007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Huaca_del_Sol_-_Ao%C3%BBt_2007.jpg)
At least 500 Moche ceramics have sexual themes. The most frequently depicted act is
anal sex
Anal sex or anal intercourse is generally the insertion and thrusting of the erect penis into a person's anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex information, anpage 118for information about the clitoris. ...
, with scenes of vaginal penetration being very rare. Most pairs are heterosexual, with carefully carved genitalia to show that the anus, rather than the vagina, is being penetrated. Often, an infant is depicted
breastfeeding
Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that br ...
while the couple has sex.
Fellatio
Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act involving a person stimulating the penis of another person by using the mouth, throat, or both. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may ...
is sometimes represented, but
cunnilingus
Cunnilingus is an oral sex act performed by a person on the vulva or vagina of another person. The clitoris is the most sexually sensitive part of the human female genitalia, and its stimulation may result in a woman becoming sexually aroused ...
is absent. Some depict male skeletons masturbating, or being masturbated by living women.
Because
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
was the source of wealth and foundation of the empire, the Moche culture emphasized the importance of circulation and flow. Expanding upon this, Moche artwork frequently depicted the passage of fluids, particularly life fluids through vulnerable human orifices. There are countless images of defeated warriors losing life fluids through their nose, or helpless victims getting their eyes torn out by birds or captors. Images of captive sex-slaves with gaping orifices and leaking fluids portray extreme exposure, humiliation, and a loss of power.
The coloration of Moche pottery is often simple, with yellowish cream and rich red used almost exclusively on elite pieces. White and black are rarely used. The Moche are known for their
portraiture pottery. The pottery portraits created by the Moche appear to represent actual individuals. Many of the portraits are of individuals with physical disfigurements or genetic defects.
The realistic detail in Moche ceramics may have helped them serve as
didactic
Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is an emerging conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to ...
models. Older generations could pass down general knowledge about
reciprocity
Reciprocity may refer to:
Law and trade
* Reciprocity (Canadian politics), free trade with the United States of America
** Reciprocal trade agreement, entered into in order to reduce (or eliminate) tariffs, quotas and other trade restrictions on ...
and embodiment to younger generations through such portrayals. The sex pots could teach about procreation, sexual pleasure, cultural and social norms, a sort of immortality, the transfer of life and souls, transformation, and the relationship between the two cyclical views of nature and life.
Textiles
Extreme weather and fragility of garments mean that relatively few examples of Moche textiles exist.
However, limited quantities have been found in tombs, especially of higher-status members of society.
Many of the remaining garments are incomplete articles, partially broken down.
Nevertheless, scholars have been able to gain cultural insights from the remaining Moche textiles. The Moche wove textiles, mostly using cotton and wool from
vicuña
The vicuña (''Lama vicugna'') or vicuna (both , very rarely spelled ''vicugna'', its former genus name) is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes, the other being the guanaco, which live ...
and
alpaca
The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can successfu ...
.
The relative presence of these fabrics, as well as which patterns were used, varies chronologically throughout Moche culture. Too few relics exist from early Moche culture to draw conclusive findings. Textiles from around 450 AD uniquely include a male head cloth—which is not readily found elsewhere. Twill and gauze weaving is also common among samples from this period, though by the 500-800 AD range, these patterns become much less abundant.
It is thought that elite members of Moche society had specialized artisans who manufactured their textiles, whereas lower-ranking typical members of society would manufacture their own clothing.
Whorls and needles have proven quite common in excavation of Moche dwellings—pointing to a household level of production.
However, more monochrome, homogenized relics suggest mass-production may have become more common by 500-800 AD.
Variation in garments likely correlates with different social classes.
Sophisticated weaving techniques and bright dyes are more common on elites’ clothing, whereas commoners may have had garments that were less sophisticated and lacked dye—and they likely had fewer of them.
Complex tapestries developed by artisans are another good associated with high social hierarchy.
Several specific items also correlate to gender in Moche culture, such as a head cloth for men
and a long tunic for women. Individuals who identified as neither male nor female were commonly portrayed wearing Moche clothing that contained details pertaining to both genders or items that were not specific to either. Descendants of Moche people today continue to have strong weaving traditions.
Metalwork
The Moche discovered both
electrochemical replacement plating and
depletion gilding Depletion gilding is a method for producing a layer of nearly pure gold on an object made of gold alloy by removing the other metals from its surface. It is sometimes referred to as a "surface enrichment" process.
Process
Most gilding methods are a ...
, which they used to cover copper crafts found at Loma Negra in thin layers of gold or silver. Modern attempts were able to recreate a similar chemical plating process using boiling water and salts found naturally in the area.
It is the Moche ceramic tradition that had previously been given the most attention in Archaeology, though this is beginning to change as archaeologists continue to discover ties between iconography on ceramic and other parts of Moche art. Just as important to Moche craftsmanship and culture is
metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
. The skill required to create these objects is perhaps some of the finest the world has ever known.
The first Moche metalworks entered into the archaeological record were unearthed by
Max Uhle
Friedrich Max Uhle (25 March 1856 – 11 May 1944) was a German archaeologist, whose work in Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia at the turn of the Twentieth Century had a significant impact on the practice of archaeology of South America.
Biograph ...
at
Huaca del Sol
The Huaca del Sol is an adobe brick pyramid built by the Moche civilization (100 AD to 800 AD) on the northern coast of what is now Peru. The pyramid is one of several ruins found near the volcanic peak of Cerro Blanco, in the coastal deser ...
and Huaca de Luna during 1899 and 1900, but were largely ignored while Uhle focused on other aspects of the sites.
Moche metal work gained attention after Peruvian researcher Rafaeil Larco Houle published ''Los Mochicas'' in 1945. Here, he mostly focused on describing the large flared headdresses and brilliantly decorated nose ornaments often found in connection with the Moche elite.
[ Despite having no formal training in archaeology, Houle was the first to truly attempt a systematic reconstruction of the Moche by drawing on information from excavations, art, iconography, Spanish documents, and modern traditions.][Alva, Walter, and Christopher B. Donnan. Royal Tombs of Sipán. Los Angeles, CA: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, 1994.] The discovery of bronze and gold artifacts buried in the Warrior Priest tomb at the Huaca de la Cruz site one year later also encouraged further study. The same would happen when burial grounds at the site now known as Loma Negra in the Piura Valley were unearthed by looters finding a wealth of gold, silver, and copper objects along with ceramic vessels.[
An important discovery in the context of Moche metallurgy was the discovery of the Tombs of ]Sipan
Huaca Rajada, also known as Sipán, is a Moche archaeological site in northern Peru in the Lambayeque Valley, that is famous for the tomb of ''Lord of Sipán'' (El Señor de Sipán), excavated by Walter Alva and his wife Susana Meneses beginni ...
in 1986. These burials included a wealth of metal objects unparalleled with any previous discovery. Most of these objects remained in their original context, allowing researchers to prove beyond reasonable doubt that metal objects were closely intertwined with the power of the Moche elite. The rulers of the Moche were incredibly adept at portraying and perpetuating their power through art, which is well-exemplified by the Moche metallurgy.
Moche techniques in metalworking have proved to be an intriguing area of research. Their techniques were likely some of the most advanced in the world during the time of the Moche; restoration has proven difficult to many present-day metalworkers.
Craftsmen perfected a wide variety of metalworking techniques. When they invaded in the sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors took note of the highly skilled metalwork the Inca were able to produce. Unlike European metalworkers, the Inca
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...
blew through long tubes to heat coals, rather than using bellows
A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...
to create a forced draft of air. It is probable that the Moche used a similar method. In fact, archaeologists are aware of several bowls from the Moche culture that depict this process. Many of the Moche metalworking techniques were invented or at least perfected by the Moche themselves, but they owe the invention of some of their most-used techniques at least in part to the influences of the Chavín culture that preceded them. Like the artists of Chavin, they mostly used alloys that contained some combination of gold, silver, or copper that they had developed. It’s worth mentioning that while Moche art as a whole is very much independent of the Chavin style, many recurring motifs found across Moche art, including the metalwork, also seem to have their roots in Chavin culture. Moche art continues the tradition of anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
figures as well as characters with prominent fangs, although the fangs are usually less pronounced than Chavin art and not present quite as often. That is not to say that the Moche didn’t leave their own mark on the Anden society. Many of the techniques developed by the Moche, especially their electroplating and gilding techniques used to make copper alloys appear to be almost internally gold or silver, would continue to be used up until the Inca conquest hundreds of years after the Moche’s collapse.
Several examples of the molds used to shape the low relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
sculptures have been discovered, most are made of a solid metal alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...
but wood molds were also used.[Bourget, Steve, and Kimberly L. Jones. The Art and Archaeology of the Moche: an Ancient Andean Society of the Peruvian North Coast. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2009.] Researchers Christopher B. Donnan and David A. Scott proved how delicate this process of shaping is when they used a cast of one of the copper alloy molds to recreate the process. They found one of the most important parts of the process is the thickness of the sheet metal. Too thick and it will fail to capture the details of the mold and prove too difficult to shape, but too thin and the metal would winkle and tear. They found 0.4mm to be the ideal thickness although the repeated hammering thinned the sheet down to 0.25mm, in addition to hammering repeated annealing was also required. Analysis of the items found at the tombs of Sipan has found that the Moche were able to maintain an almost completely uniform thickness between 1 and about 0.1 millimeters depending on the object.
When this was completed several other techniques could be used to finish the piece. Oftentimes other pieces were attached, sometimes with the intention of being moving parts of the work. More often than not this was done by crimping the metal or the use of interlocking tabs and slits in the two parts, but soldering
Soldering (; ) is a process in which two or more items are joined by melting and putting a filler metal (solder) into the joint, the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal. Unlike welding, soldering does not involv ...
and edged-wielding were also used. Finishing touches could also be added with embossing, punching and chasing along with embedding other precious materials. Stones such as lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.
As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, ...
, turquoise, spondylus shells, and others have all been found embedded in Moche metal works. It's worth noting that several of the materials are not found on the Moche coast. Lapis Lazuli was available only from modern Chile hundreds of miles to the south and Spondulus shells had to be acquired from modern Ecuador to the north. This makes it clear that the Moche must have had extensive trade networks, and likely contact with other cultures. Also notable in this context is the fact that many of the animals accurately depicted in Moche artwork are found only in the tropical Amazon.
Agricultural engineering
Researchers of the Moche culture agree that the emergence of the Moche culture is related to the intensification of the production of corn, cotton, beans and squash, among other agricultural products, which allowed the development of a regional Moche political economy in the Valley of Moche from the north coast of Peru during the Early Intermediate Period (400 BC–600 AD).
The northern region of Peru is one of the most arid areas in the world, where there is no rain throughout the year. That factor, far from discouraging the establishment of communities, was the trigger for the construction of an outstanding culture that developed engineering works that
They interconnected various river valleys, with the aim of irrigating desert territories.
Many of the Mochica agricultural systems are still in operation, such as the Ascope aqueduct, the La Cumbre Canal, in Chicama, or the San Jose dam, which continue to provide water, coming from the Andean region and groundwater, guaranteeing several harvests per year.
Access to new farmland, gained from the desert, was the starting point of a civilization that, based on abundant harvests, became socially stratified. All this allowed certain members of the community to no longer dedicate themselves exclusively to food production, and a process of specialization began that led to the development of the Mochica civilization.
Gallery
Religion
Both iconography and the finds of human skeletons in ritual contexts seem to indicate that human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...
played a significant part in Moche religious practices. These rites appear to have involved the elite as key actors in a spectacle of costumed participants, monumental settings and possibly the ritual consumption of blood. The tumi
Tumi ( ''Quechua'' for 'Knife', ''variants'': 'Tome', 'Tume'), is a generic term encompassing the many kinds of sharp tools utilized in pre- and post-colonial eras of the Central Andes region, Tumis were employed for a diverse set of purposes s ...
was a crescent-shaped metal knife used in sacrifices. While some scholars, such as Christopher B. Donnan Christopher B. Donnan is an archaeologist. He has researched the Moche civilization of ancient Peru for more than fifty years, conducting numerous excavations of Peruvian archaeological sites. Donnan has traveled the world photographing Moche artw ...
and Izumi Shimada
Izumi Shimada () is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (SIUC) and 2007 Outstanding ScholarJohn Verano John Verano is a professor of anthropology at Tulane University. He received his B.A. from Stanford University in 1977 in anthropology. He then went on to the University of California, Los Angeles to receive his M.A. in 1980 and his Ph.D. in 1987.
...
and Richard Sutter
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...
, suggest that the sacrificial victims were warriors captured in territorial battles between the Moche and other nearby societies. Excavations in plazas near Moche huacas
In the Quechuan languages of South America, a huaca or wak'a is an object that represents something revered, typically a monument of some kind. The term ''huaca'' can refer to natural locations, such as immense rocks. Some huacas have been assoc ...
have found groups of people sacrificed together and the skeletons of young men deliberately excarnated, perhaps for temple displays.[
The Moche may have also held and tortured the victims for several weeks before sacrificing them, with the intent of deliberately drawing blood. Verano believes that some parts of the victim may have been eaten as well in ritual cannibalism.] The sacrifices may have been associated with rites of ancestral renewal and agricultural fertility. Moche iconography features a figure which scholars have nicknamed the "Decapitator"; it is frequently depicted as a spider, but sometimes as a winged creature or a sea monster: together all three features symbolize land, water and air. When the body is included, the figure is usually shown with one arm holding a knife and another holding a severed head by the hair; it has also been depicted as "a human figure with a tiger's mouth and snarling fangs". The "Decapitator" is thought to have figured prominently in the beliefs surrounding the practice of sacrifice.
Social stratification
Although it remains somewhat unclear how geographically divided Moche culture was, scholars are very confident that the Moche were a socially divided society. Beyond royalty, the Moche can be divided into a general upper and lower class, and each class can be further stratified into smaller groups. Intra-class movement was possible within these broad categories, but inter-class switches between them were less feasible. Many pre-contact cultures share a divided structure comparable to the Moche—but each may have unique development.
Although religion seems to have been a centripetal force for the Moche, members of the elite class likely used it to reinforce their status. Other ideological, economic, political, and social factors may have also been leveraged to similar ends. A common approach to maintaining power was for members of the elite, such as priests and priestesses, to use ceremonies to reinforce their standing (see the Religion section for more information on ceremonies). It may also be true that physical force was used. The Moche elite may have struggled to retain power at times, and inter-elite quarreling is speculated to have played into the culture’s collapse.
Excavated Moche burial sites constitute a large body of evidence for social stratification. Those lowest in the Moche hierarchy were buried in a simple hole near their household; platform mounds with an abundance of goods were awarded to the highest-ranking members of society. An incomplete list of possible funerary objects includes copper masks, silver, pottery, and gold goods. Presence of metal-worked goods is thought to be especially significant with respect to high status. Excavation of dwellings indicates that living conditions of Moche likely also differed based on social standing., but excavation data here remains skewed and not entirely complete so far. Excavated elite burials also illustrate that remains sexed both male and female held elite positions in Moche culture.
Collapse
There are multiple theories as to what caused the demise of the Moche political structure. Some scholars have emphasized the role of environmental change. Studies of ice cores drilled from glaciers
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
in the Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
reveal climatic events between 563 and 594 AD, possibly a super El Niño
El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date L ...
, that resulted in 30 years of intense rain and flooding followed by 30 years of drought, part of the aftermath of the climate changes of 535–536
The volcanic winter of 536 was the most severe and protracted episode of climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2,000 years. The volcanic winter was caused by an eruption, with several possible locations proposed in various contin ...
. These weather events could have disrupted the Moche way of life, political hierarchy, and jeopardized their faith in their religion. This super El Niño may have hindered Moche agriculture. Moche agriculture relied considerably on canal-based irrigation from Andes mountain runoff, which a severe drought would have jeopardized. Certain scholars attribute strain on the irrigation systems to sensitive tectonics in the region.
Other evidence demonstrates that these events did not cause a complete Moche demise. Moche polities survived beyond 650 AD in the Jequetepeque Valley and the Moche Valleys. For instance, in the Jequetepeque Valley, later settlements are characterized by fortifications and defensive works. While there is no evidence of a foreign invasion, as many scholars have suggested in the past (i.e. a Huari Huari may refer to:
*Huari culture, a historical civilization in Peru
*Huari (archaeological site), an archaeological site in Peru
*Huari, Peru, a town in Peru
* Huari District, a district in the Huari Province, Peru
* Huari Province, a province in ...
invasion), the defensive works suggest social unrest, possibly the result of climatic changes, as factions fought for control over increasingly scarce resources.
Links with other cultures
Chronologically, the Moche was an Early Intermediate Period
Early may refer to:
History
* The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.:
** Early Christianity
** Early modern Europe
Places in the United States
* Early, Iowa
* Early, Texas
* Early ...
culture, which was preceded by the Chavín horizon, as well as the Cupisnique, and succeeded by the Huari and Chimú
Chimor (also Kingdom of Chimor or Chimú Empire) was the political grouping of the Chimú culture. The culture arose about 900 AD, succeeding the Moche culture, and was later conquered by the Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui around 1470, fifty y ...
. The Moche co-existed with the Ica-Nazca culture
The Nazca culture (also Nasca) was the archaeological culture that flourished from beside the arid, southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and the Ica Valley.''The Nasca'' by Helaine Silverman and Dona ...
in the south. They are thought to have had some limited contact with the Ica-Nazca because they later mined guano
Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...
for fertilizer and may have traded with northerners. Moche pottery
Moche portrait vessels are ceramic vessels featuring highly individualized and naturalistic representations of human faces that are unique to the Moche culture of Peru.
These portrait vessels are among the few realistic portrayals of humans fo ...
has been found near Ica, but no Ica-Nazca pottery
The Nazca culture (also Nasca) was the archaeological culture that flourished from beside the arid, southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and the Ica Valley.''The Nasca'' by Helaine Silverman and Dona ...
has been found in Moche territory.
The coastal Moche culture also co-existed (or overlapped in time) with the slightly earlier Recuay culture
The Recuay culture was a pre-Columbian culture of highland Peru that flourished from 200 BCE to 600 CE and was related to the Moche culture of the north coast. It is named after the Recuay District, in the Recuay Province, in the Ancash Region ...
in the highlands. Some Moche iconographic motifs can be traced to Recuay design elements.
The Moche also interacted with the neighbouring Virú culture
The Virú culture (alternatively known as the ''Gallinazo'') was a pre-Columbian, pre-Inca culture that flourished in the Virú Valley on the northwest coast of Peru. It marks the start of the Early Intermediate Period of Peru, dating roughly ar ...
. Eventually, by 700 CE, they established control over the Viru.
Archaeological discoveries
In 1899 and 1900, Max Uhle was the first archaeologist to excavate a Moche site, Huaca de la Luna which is where the architectural complex that is known as ''Huacas de Moche'' (Pyramids of Moche) is located in the Moche Valley. The name of this architectural complex is where the name of the Moche site and culture came from.
Excavations in 1938 and 1939 by Rafael Larco Hoyle saw the development of the first interpretations of Moche culture, ranking the Moche as being "high on the list of advanced societies" as a civilization. He listed traits of the Moche culture such as "exquisite artworks" and the "creation of large scale facilities and public works" as a testament to this ranking.
Although arguably the most significant event which shaped Moche archaeological research was the Virú Valley Project beginning in 1946 and was led by Willian Duncan Strong and Wendell Bennett. Their stratigraphic excavations in Virú showed an earlier ceramic style, which is known as Gallinazo which appeared to have “abruptly ended”.
In 1987, archaeologists, alerted by the local police, discovered the first intact Moche tomb at Sipán
Huaca Rajada, also known as Sipán, is a Moche archaeological site in northern Peru in the Lambayeque Valley, that is famous for the tomb of ''Lord of Sipán'' (El Señor de Sipán), excavated by Walter Alva and his wife Susana Meneses beginni ...
in northern Peru. Inside the tomb, which was carbon dated to about 300 AD, the archaeologists found the mummified remains of a high ranking male, the Lord of Sipán
The Lord of Sipán (''El Señor de Sipán'') is the name given to the first of several Moche mummies found at Huaca Rajada, Sipán, Peru by archaeologist Walter Alva. The site was discovered in 1987.
Some archaeologists consider this find to be ...
. Also in the tomb were the remains of six other individuals, several animals, and a large variety of ornamental and functional items, many of which were made of gold, silver, and other valuable materials. Continuing excavations of the site have yielded thirteen additional tombs.
In 2005, a mummified Moche woman known as the Lady of Cao
The Lady of Cao is a name given to a female Moche mummy discovered at the archeological site El Brujo, which is located about 45 km north of Trujillo in the La Libertad Region of Peru.
Discovery
The Lady of Cao was discovered in 2006 by a ...
was discovered at the Huaca Cao Viejo, part of the El Brujo
Located in the Chicama Valley, the El Brujo Archaeological Complex, just north of Trujillo, La Libertad Province, Peru, is an ancient archaeological site that was occupied from preceramic times. Considering the broad cultural sequencing, th ...
archaeological site on the outskirts of present-day Trujillo, Peru
Trujillo (; qu, Truhillu) is a city in coastal northwestern Peru and the capital of the Department of La Libertad. It is the third most populous city and center of the List of metropolitan areas of Peru, third most populous metropolitan area of P ...
. It is the best preserved Moche mummy found to date; the elaborate tomb that housed her had unprecedented decoration. The site archaeologists believe that the tomb had been undisturbed since approximately 450 AD. The tomb contained military and ornamental artifacts, including war clubs and spear throwers. The remains of a garrote
A garrote or garrote vil (a Spanish word; alternative spellings include garotte and similar variants''Oxford English Dictionary'', 11th Ed: garrotte is normal British English spelling, with single r alternate. Article title is US English spellin ...
d teenage girl, probably a servant, was also found in the tomb. News of the discovery was announced by Peruvian and U.S. archaeologists in collaboration with ''National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
'' in May 2006.
In 2005 an elaborate gold mask thought to depict a sea god, with curving rays radiating from a stone-inlaid feline face, was recovered in London. Experts thought that the artifact may have been looted in the late 1980s from an elite tomb at the Moche site of La Mina. Recovered by Scotland Yard, it was returned to Peru in 2006.
In 2013 archaeologists unearthed the eighth of a series of finds of female skeleton that started with the Lady of Cao, together taken as confirmation that the Moche were ruled by a succession of priestesses-queens. According to project director Luis Jaime Castillo, " hefind makes it clear that women didn't just run rituals in this area but governed here and were queens of Mochica society". No entombed men have been found. This discovery was made at the large archaeological site of San José de Moro
San Jose de Moro is a Moche archaeological site in the Pacanga District, Chepén Province, La Libertad Region, of Northwestern Peru. The site served as a ceremonial funerary complex between the years 400 and 1000 AD.
Region
The site of San Jos ...
, located close to the town of Chepen, in the Sechura Desert of the Jequetepeque Valley, in La Libertad Region
La Libertad (; in English: ''The Liberty'') is a region in northwestern Peru. Formerly it was known as the Department of La Libertad ('). It is bordered by the Lambayeque, Cajamarca and Amazonas regions on the north, the San Martín Region on t ...
, Peru.Tomb of a Powerful Moche Priestess-Queen Found in Peru.
August 13, 2013 nationalgeographic.com
See also
* Chimu Empire, heavily influenced inheritors of the Moche
*Cultural periods of Peru
This is a chart of cultural periods of Peru and the Andean Region developed by John Rowe and Edward Lanning and used by some archaeologists studying the area. An alternative dating system was developed by Luis Lumbreras and provides different dat ...
* El Señor de Sipán (the Lord of Sipán)
*Moche Crawling Feline
The Moche Crawling Feline is a specific stirrup spout vessel dating from 100—800 CE. This Moche ceramic effigy is currently in the collection of Larco Museum, in Lima, Peru. It comes from the North Coast of Peru. It represents a zoomorphic cha ...
*Vista Alegre, Trujillo
Vista Alegre is a town in the southwest side of Trujillo city, is in Victor Larco Herrera District in the province of Trujillo, La Libertad Region, Peru.
Population
This seaside town located one kilometer approximately from the sea, is compl ...
* Víctor Larco
*Buenos Aires, Trujillo
Buenos Aires is a coastal town and resort located in Víctor Larco Herrera district, in Trujillo, Peru. This locality is subdivided into three zones: ''Buenos Aires South'', extending to the border with the Moche district, ''Buenos Aires Centra ...
*Moche, Trujillo
Moche is a Peruvian city, the capital of Moche District in Trujillo Province of La Libertad Region in northern Peru. It is located in the Moche Valley and was the center of development of the ancient Moche or Mochica culture. Now it is a major t ...
(Moche City)
*Viracocha
Viracocha is the great creator deity in the pre-Inca and Inca mythology in the Andes region of South America. Full name and some spelling alternatives are Wiracocha, Apu Qun Tiqsi Wiraqutra, and Con-Tici (also spelled Kon-Tiki, the source of the ...
*Virú culture
The Virú culture (alternatively known as the ''Gallinazo'') was a pre-Columbian, pre-Inca culture that flourished in the Virú Valley on the northwest coast of Peru. It marks the start of the Early Intermediate Period of Peru, dating roughly ar ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
Moche Civilization – World History Encyclopedia
Map of current Moche city (Wikimapia)
''New York Times'' article (17 May 2006) by John Noble Wilford
John Noble Wilford (born October 4, 1933) is an author and science journalist for ''The New York Times''.
Biography
Wilford was born October 4, 1933, in Murray, Kentucky, and attended Grove High School across the border in nearby Paris, Tennessee. ...
.
"The Lost Civilisation of Peru"
transcript of BBC programme, includes bibliography.
Gallery of Moche erotic pottery
at the Larco Museum.
El Brujo Archaeological project
website with links to National University of Trujillo, IBM, National Geographic and press reports.
''Discover'' article (March 1999) by Heather Pringle Heather Pringle may refer to:
* Heather L. Pringle, United States Air Force general
* Heather Pringle (writer)
Heather Pringle is a Canadian freelance science writer who mostly writes about archaeology. Before becoming a writer, Pringle worked as a ...
.
"The Ulluchu fruit: Blood Rituals and Sacrificial Practices Among the Moche People of Ancient Peru"
b
Francesco Sammarco
"Moche pottery and the practice of war"
Horniman Museum
The Horniman Museum and Gardens is a museum in Forest Hill, London, England. Commissioned in 1898, it opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Modern Style. It has displays of anthropology, natural history and musical ...
video on YouTube channel.
Moche Iconography
Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, M ...
online resource linking to digitized roll-out drawings of Moche ceramic fineline iconography.
{{Authority control
Andean civilizations
Pre-Columbian cultures
Former countries in South America
Prehistory of Peru
Archaeology of Peru
2nd-century establishments
8th-century disestablishments in South America