presentation theme moche

Tools and Resources
Customer Services
African Art
American Art
Art of the Middle East/North Africa
Contemporary Art
Early Christian/Byzantine Art
East Asian Art
Egyptian/Ancient Near Eastern Art
Eighteenth-Century Art
Greek/Roman Art
Latin American/Caribbean Art
Medieval Art
Nineteenth-Century Art
Oceanic/Australian Art
Pre-Columbian Art
Prehistoric Art
Religious Art
Renaissance/Baroque Art
South/Southeast Asian Art
Twentieth-Century Art
Archaeology
Architecture and Urban Planning
Art Education
Art History and Theory
Art Law and Crime
Art Markets
Art Materials and Techniques
Arts Administration
Books, Manuscripts, and Illustration
Ceramics and Pottery
Collecting, Patronage, and Display of Art
Conservation and Preservation
Digital, Multimedia, and Sound
Fashion, Jewellery, and Body Art
Film and Video
Gardens and Landscape Design
Graphic Design and Typography
Industrial and Commercial Art
Installation Art, Mixed-Media, and Assemblage
Interior Design and Furniture
Liturgical and Ritual Objects
Painting and Drawing
Performance Art and Dance
Photography
Prints and Printmaking
Public Art, Land Art, and Environmental Art
Scenography
Sculpture and Carving
Textiles and Embroidery
Vernacular and Folk Art
10000–1000 BCE
1000–300 BCE
300 BCE–CE 500
CE 500–1000
The Americas
Building/Structure
Artist, Architect, or Designer
Patron, Collector, or Dealer
Publisher or Printer
Writer or Scholar
Share Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Article contents

Moche [ mochica ].

Christopher B. Donnan,
Joanne Pillsbury,
Izumi Shimada
, and Theresa Lange Topic
https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T058723
Published online: 2003
This version: 13 January 2022
Previous version

Updated in this version

updated and revised

Pre-Columbian culture and art style that evolved on the north coast of Peru approximately a thousand years before the rise of the Inka empire. It is also the name given to the site of the Pre-Columbian city that existed in the Moche Valley, near present-day Trujillo. The Moche had no writing system, yet they produced a vivid artistic record of activities and environments. The realism and subject matter of Moche art make it one of the most appealing of all Pre-Columbian styles. (For general discussion of the Pre-Columbian art of the region see Pre-Columbian South America: Central Andean Area .)

1. Introduction.

Christopher B. Donnan, revised by Joanne Pillsbury

The Moche lived in one of the world’s driest deserts. Human life in the area is confined to the river valleys that cut across this desert, draining rainfall from the Andes back into the Pacific Ocean. Moche subsistence was based primarily on agriculture, supplemented extensively by maritime resources. To a lesser degree, hunting of land mammals, birds, and land snails added to the diet. The domesticated llama and alpaca were the primary source of meat and wool, and llamas also served as beasts of burden and as sacrificial offerings. The Muscovy duck and guinea pig were domesticated and used for food.

The Moche style began c . 100 ce , and by c . 500 ce it was dominant in all of the valleys from Lambayeque to Nepeña, a distance of more than 250 km north–south. Moche settlements are found in nearly all parts of these valleys, from the sea to the point where the floodplain narrows as it enters the canyons leading up into the mountains. This is generally a distance of c . 50 km east–west. Limited occurrences of Moche material or Moche stylistic features have been found beyond these boundaries, indicating varying degrees of contact with the surrounding areas. A considerable number of Moche-style metal objects were reportedly found in the Piura region, for example, in an area close to the modern-day border between Peru and Ecuador.

Metal-casting techniques, the alloying of metals, and the widespread use of copper and silver appear to have been added by Moche craftsmen to an already highly developed goldworking technology that was known to earlier artists ( see Pre-Columbian South America: Greater Central America ) (see fig. ). Similarly, Moche potters added the use of molds to an extensive list of techniques for producing fine ceramic objects. Loom weaving of cotton and wool fibers was practiced, and a great variety of techniques was utilized to produce elaborate textiles, although few complete examples have survived to the present day.

Moche pair of earflares decorated with condors, repousée silver with shell attached to sheet gold and backed by gilt copper, diam. 76 mm, Loma Negra, 2nd–3rd century ce (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979. (1979.206.1245-.1246), Accession ID: 1979.206.1245 ,1979.206.1246); image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Moche people built temples, palaces, and platform mounds of rectangular sun-dried mud bricks—a construction material well-suited to the arid climate of the northern Peruvian coast. Many of these were embellished with mural painting or relief sculpture, and the bright colors would have been visible from considerable distances. Some of these platform mounds contained elaborate burials.

Moche graves were usually rectangular pits in which the bodies were placed in an extended, supine position. Sometimes the pits were lined with mud bricks or stone and roofed with large cane beams. Many elaborately furnished graves have been found, and the marked differentiation in the quality and quantity of grave goods indicates a highly developed system of social distinction and a complex division of labor. These aspects of society are also demonstrated by the way people and activities are depicted by Moche artists.

The subject matter of Moche art is markedly varied, especially in comparison with other cultures of the Andes. Men, women, animals, plants, anthropomorphized demons, and deities are shown engaged in a wide range of activities, including hunting, fishing, combat, punishment, sexual acts, and elaborate ceremonies. Architectural details of temples, pyramids, and houses are all depicted in Moche art, as are features of clothing and adornment. The representations, both painted and modeled, are detailed and often demonstrate a remarkable fidelity to an observed reality. In many ways, Moche art is more accessible and readable than other Pre-Columbian traditions, and many compositions, particularly on ceramics, suggest specific narratives. Much of the art appears to tell a story and to give tantalizing glimpses into the daily life, ceremonies, and mythology of the people who created it.

Around 750 ce , Moche art began to disappear from the north coast. The circumstances under which this took place are not well understood, although it has been suggested that its end was brought about by an invasion of Wari people from the southern mountain regions of Peru, or that the Moche people were indirectly affected by the rise of this powerful entity. Archaeological research has demonstrated that the end of the Moche is contemporary with the introduction of the Wari style on the north coast, but there is no conclusive evidence to show that the two events are causally related. Abrupt changes in climate, such as a mega El Niño event, may have also contributed to the downfall of the Moche.

It is only with the arrival of Europeans in the early 16th century that we have any written accounts of the native people who lived on the north coast of Peru. Since the earlier cultures had no writing system, their story must be reconstructed on the basis of archaeological research. This involves the painstaking excavation of what remains of their palaces, temples, and tombs, as well as their domestic architecture and refuse deposits. Archaeological research in this area is particularly instructive, however, because the arid climate has preserved perishable material such as plant remains, basketry, and textiles, which are absent from archaeological sites in most other areas of the world. The remarkably complete archaeological record makes possible a detailed view of the ancient culture—a view that is greatly enhanced by the wealth of information contained in Moche art.

Bibliography

Larco Hoyle, R. Los Mochicas . Lima, 1938–1939.
Donnan, C. B. Moche Art of Peru . Los Angeles, 1978.
Donnan, C. B. and Castillo, L. J. “Finding the Tomb of a Moche Priestess.” Archaeology 45, no. 6 (1992): 38–42.
Alva, W. and Donnan, C. B. Royal Tombs of Sipán . Los Angeles, 1993.
Alva, W. Sipán . Lima, 1994.
Uceda, S. and Mujica, E. , eds. Moche: Propuestas y perspectivas . Lima, 1994.
Pillsbury, J. , ed. Moche Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru . Washington, D.C., 2001.
Uceda, S. and Mujica, E. , eds. Moche: Hacia el final del milenio . Lima and Trujillo, 2003.
Castillo, L. “Las señoras de San José de Moro: Rituales funerarios de mujeres de élite en la costa norte del Perú.” Arkeos: Revista Electrónica de Arqueología PUCP 1, no. 3 (2005): 1–10.
Bourget, S. and Jones, K. L. , eds. The Art and Archaeology of the Moche: An Ancient Andean Society of the Peruvian North Coast . Austin, 2008.
Quilter, J. and Castillo B. , L. J., eds. New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization . Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2010.
Donnan, C. B. “Moche Substyles: Keys to Understanding Moche Political Organization.” Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 16, no. 1 (2011): 105–118.
Quilter, J. and Koons, M. L. “The Fall of the Moche: A Critique of Claims for South America’s First State.” Latin American Antiquity 23, no. 2 (2012): 127–143.
Bourget, S. Les rois mochica: Divinité et pouvoir dans le Pérou ancien . Paris and Geneva, 2014.
Koons, M. L. and Alex, B. A. “Revised Moche Chronology Based on Bayesian Models of Reliable Radiocarbon Dates.” Radiocarbon 56, no. 3 (2014): 1039–1055.

2. Art and architecture.

Izumi Shimada, revised by Joanne Pillsbury

The extensive irrigation systems required to make the coastal deserts fertile are among the most impressive achievements of the Moche and their contemporaries, the Gallinazo . Complex systems were gravity-fed and channeled the precious waters flowing from the rivers that originate high in the Andes and bisect the coastal deserts. Settlements with monumental architecture are usually found just beyond the irrigated fields, often at the foot of rocky hills. Most valleys between Nepeña in the south to the Lambayeque drainage in the north feature at least one major center.

(i) Monumental Architecture.

The most prominent structures at Moche sites are massive, multilevel platform mounds, the highest of which reaches 40 m. These monumental platforms usually featured smaller superstructures and complex interior spaces and tombs. Visible from great distances, these massive constructions often had large viewing plazas and ritual spaces at their base. Such building complexes are called huacas , the Quechua term for something sacred.

(a) Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna.

Among the most spectacular monuments, and the first to be systematically recorded (and named) in the colonial period, are the Huaca del Sol (Pyramid of the Sun) and the Huaca de la Luna (Pyramid of the Moon) at Moche, a site also known as Huacas de Moche, located near Trujillo in the Moche Valley. A bustling urban zone with carefully planned streets between residential blocks and workshops was located in the floodplain between the two monuments, as was a spiral-shaped ritual structure. Once thought to be the capital of a single, centralized Moche state, this site has the longest history of archaeological investigation, beginning in the 18th century, and continuing into the 21st century.

Even in its badly damaged and incomplete state—the nearby Moche River was redirected in the colonial period to wash out the gold treasure thought to be entombed inside, destroying at least two-thirds of the building—the Huaca del Sol is one of the largest structures ever built in the ancient Americas. Measuring c. 350 m long and c. 40 m high, a 90 m-long, 6 m-wide ramp on the north side gives access to the summit. The main body of the pyramid consisted of a basal platform, built as a series of steps measuring 3 m high by 2 m wide and surmounted by a 23 m-high superstructure. The profile of the best-preserved southeastern portion of the pyramid thus resembles a huge staircase, a form that may have served to minimize buttressing problems. It has been estimated that there were at least eight construction stages, which probably began c. 200 CE and consumed over 143 million mud bricks. Such a large-scale use of bricks indicates power over an immense labor force. Many of these bricks feature “maker’s marks”—simple impressions made with fingers or stamps while the clay was wet—that may reflect how that labor was organized, such as through a labor tax.

Huaca de la Luna, at the west base of the conical peak of Cerro Blanco, incorporates three platforms and was also built in stages, each new construction phase encasing the previous one. This onion-skin type of construction has preserved portions of the spectacular architectural reliefs that adorned both interior and exterior walls. Brightly painted, the facade reliefs would have been visible to the hundreds who could have gathered in the plaza below the huaca. These facade reliefs were mostly organized into tiers with distinctive imagery and depict processions of warriors and their prisoners; a line of figures grasping hands; and supernatural creatures. A stand-alone relief, still poorly understood, depicts a complex theme with multiple elements, from celestial imagery to nets. Interior courtyards feature a rhomboid pattern with the face of a fearsome being with feline canines and figure-eight ears. Sometimes called the Decapitator, he is often depicted on ceramics wielding a knife with a crescent-shaped blade ( tumi ) in one hand, and a trophy head in another. A number of mural paintings have been discovered, including one depicting a battle between men and anthropomorphic weapons. Huaca de la Luna is thought to be oriented more toward religious practices than its neighbor Huaca del Sol, and excavations there in the 1990s and later revealed what is assumed to be the location of the final stages of sacrificial rituals.

(b) El Brujo Archaeological Complex.

The broad Chicama Valley boasts two important Moche centers: Mocollope, a site with extensive evidence of an urban residential area, ritual structures, and a large ceramic production workshop nearby; and the El Brujo Archaeological Complex , a ritual center close to the Pacific Ocean, some 60 km northwest of the city of Trujillo. Two monumental platform mounds, Huaca Cao Viejo and Huaca El Brujo, dominate the latter site. Huaca El Brujo, also dubbed in modern times Huaca Cortada or Huaca Partida (meaning cut or divided, respectively) for the massive looter’s trench through its center, has been less intensively studied than its companion, which has been the focus of study since the late 20th century. Built over the course of some six hundred years beginning c. 200 CE, the Huaca Cao Viejo sits in a ceremonial plaza complete with a ritual well with a spiral entrance. The imposing facade displays intriguing connections with Huaca de la Luna. Tiers of bright, polychrome architectural reliefs feature parades of nearly life-size, stripped prisoners painted in a vivid red, a line of figures holding hands, and other imagery such as the Decaptitator that suggests a strong connection between the two sites. A courtyard and other compartments have been discovered on the upper part of the monument. One chamber, elaborately painted with supernatural creatures repeated in a rectilinear, textilelike pattern, held the tomb of a woman who died in her early twenties and was laid to rest c. 400 CE with an array of ceremonial weapons and nose ornaments—regalia usually associated with men. Dubbed the Lady of Cao (La Dama de Cao or the Señora de Cao), she is thought to be the earliest female ruler yet discovered in South America.

(c) Huaca Dos Cabezas.

Located at the mouth of the Jequetepeque River, Huaca Dos Cabezas —the largest structure in this valley—is a striking feature in the coastal desert landscape. Its name, Dos Cabezas, or Two Heads, comes from its misshapen appearance, a result of intensive looting in the center of the huaca in the colonial period that left the truncated pyramid in two lumps. The site was occupied for some two millennia prior to the construction of the monumental architecture in Moche times, c. 350–650 CE. Built over several successive stages, at its greatest extent the 90 × 90 m huaca rose some 30 m from the surrounding terrain, seated on a massive 231 × 167 m platform, making it one of the largest pre-Hispanic constructions in the Americas. The truncated pyramid boasts several unusual features, including a double stairway providing access to the summit, zig zag corners, and black-and-white net-patterned architectural reliefs. A series of important tombs located at the southwest corner of the huaca contained some of the finest modeled ceramics and works in metal known from Moche times (see §(ii)(a) below). The site was inundated with windblown sand c. 600 CE and eventually abandoned.

(d) Huaca Fortaleza.

Huaca Fortaleza, the ceremonial center of Pampa Grande , in the Lambayeque Valley, was one of the last major monumental buildings to be constructed in Moche times. Beginning c. 600 CE, the impressive 270 × 180 × 38 m structure was built in two distinct stages, possibly within a single generation. An estimated 80–85% of the pyramid’s volume (estimated at 1,500,000 cubic meters) was built using an innovative “chamber and fill” technique, the interior largely comprising several hundred square adobe-and-mortar walled chambers containing sand and other locally available loose fill such as sand and llama dung. The resultant lattice of filled chambers was buttressed by thick exterior adobe walls. This technique was cost-effective in that it rapidly achieved height and volume while reducing the number of bricks needed and maximizing the use of readily available filling material.

Access to the 10 m-high first terrace was provided by an impressive 290 m-long walled ramp with three “checkpoints” (interior cross walls at intervals along the ramp, each providing only restricted passage between them). Traffic then passed through a two-tiered platform at the west end and reached the middle terrace, over 5 m high, before making the final steep climb to the summit. This platform had a back wall and a solid roof supported by three rows of wooden columns; many were set in square, sand-filled adobe sockets, some of which contained sacrificed llamas. Although the top of the main body of the pyramid has been badly eroded, some preserved superstructures were excavated, providing a glimpse of the site’s former splendor. The entire summit was probably walled in with the northern front reinforced by a boulder embankment. Inside, a major portion was occupied by an extensive court with a roof supported by wooden columns.

A complex of well-built, spacious rooms, with indirect access through baffled entries formally arranged at the higher, south end of the main body, is indicative of the function of the Huaca Fortaleza. The ceremonial significance of this complex is indicated not only by its elevated location and carefully planned construction but also by a mural showing a row of identical seated feline creatures, by a number of underfloor offerings, and by the nature of artifacts found on the floor.

(e) Pañamarca.

Located in the southernmost reaches of the Moche culture area in the Nepeña Valley, Pañamarca possesses some of the most important Moche mural paintings. A section of the murals, depicting processing priests and warriors as well as supernatural figures, was first discovered in the 1950s. One, designated Mural E, features subject matter related to human sacrifice and ritual toasting. Initially dubbed the Presentation Theme, but now known as the Sacrifice Ceremony, this imagery is also seen on ceramics (see §(ii)(a) below). The site was studied anew in the 21st century, revealing new murals and much new information about the sacred practices behind the creation and use of the murals. The adobe walls were covered with a clay plaster and the compositions were incised while the clay was still fresh and subsequently painted with mineral and carbon-based pigments. The overarching themes are the mythological acts of supernatural beings and creatures, as well as ritual practices performed by human figures. The murals themselves were the focus of ritual practices for up to a century following their completion: offerings were left in front of them, and, in some cases, libations appear to have been intentionally splashed on the murals. At the end of the Moche era, c. 800 CE, the site was ritually sealed and the murals were whitewashed.

Uhle, M. “Die Ruinen von Moche.” Journal de la Société des américanistes 10 (1913): 95–117; trans. and ed. by Peter Kaulicke as Las ruinas de Moche ; Lima, 2014.
Kroeber, A. L. Archaeological Explorations in Peru, Part II: The Northern Coast , Anthropological Series, Field Museum of Natural History, vol. 2. Chicago, 1930.
Hastings, C. M. and Moseley, M. E. “The Adobes of Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna.” American Antiquity 40 (1975): 196–203.
Donnan, C. B. and Mackey, C. J. Ancient Burial Patterns in the Moche Valley, Peru . Austin, 1978.
Topic, T. L. “The Early Intermediate Period and its Legacy.” In Chan Chan: Andean Desert City , edited by M. E. Moseley and K. C. Day , 255–284. Albuquerque, 1982.
Bonavia, D. Mural Painting in Ancient Peru . Bloomington, 1985.
Quilter, J. “The Moche Revolt of the Objects.” Latin American Antiquity 1, no. 1 (1990): 42–65.
Shimada, I. Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture . Austin, 1994.
Chapdelaine, C. “The Growing Power of a Moche Urban Class.” In Moche Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru , edited by J. Pillsbury , 68–87. Washington, DC, 2001.
Millaire, J.-F. Moche Burial Patterns: An Investigation into Prehispanic Social Structure . Oxford, 2002.
Mujica Barreda, E. and others. El Brujo: Huaca Cao, Centro Ceremonial Moche en el Valle de Chicama/Huaca Cao, A Moche Ceremonial Center in the Chicama Valley . Lima, 2007.
Donnan, C. B. “Huaca Dos Cabezas.” Ñawpa Pacha 34, no. 2 (2014): 117–146.
Meneses, J. “Huacas de Moche: Revealing Death and Ritual in the Shadow of the Pyramids.” Current World Archeology 67 (2014): 18–25.
Uceda Castillo, S. , Morales Gamarra, R. , and Mujica Barrera, E. Huaca de la Luna: Templos y Dioses Moches/Moche Temples and Gods . Lima, 2016.
Trever, L. and others. The Archaeology of Mural Painting at Pañamarca, Peru . Washington, DC, 2017.

(ii) Pottery, metal, and other arts.

Theresa Lange Topic, revised by Joanne Pillsbury

The dynamic creativity of Moche artists is demonstrated across a range of materials. Ceramics—both durable and ubiquitous—form the most abundant corpus, followed by works of art in metal, a category now severely depleted due to metal’s inherent mutability and the ease with which it could be melted down and re-purposed in later periods. Tantalizing glimpses of what were surely important traditions of wood sculpture and textiles exist, but these materials do not survive well in the archaeological record, and we are left with few complete examples (see fig. ). The lapidary arts are represented by a small but exquisite body of works: stone is often a component of mixed-media ornaments, where it is combined with gold, shell, and other materials (see fig. ).

Pair of Moche ear ornaments with winged runners; Gold, turquoise, sodalite, shell; diam. 8 cm, A.D. 400–700 (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift and Bequest of Alice K. Bache, 1966, 1977, Accession ID: 66.196.40-.41); public domain

(a) Pottery.

Ceramics were the great canvases of Moche artists. Pots were both molded and hand-modeled, in high and low relief. Decorations were modeled, stamped, carved, and painted on flat surfaces—in red-brown or black-brown lines on a cream or beige slip, or in cream or beige lines on a red-brown slip (see fig. ). Effigy vessels were common, including frogs, owls, and other creatures, whose detailing reveals Moche artists’ close observation of the natural world. Others depict fantastical, hybrid beings, from crested felines to anthropomorphized potatoes. Also frequent were hollow and solid mold-made figurines, most depicting human beings; these were generally made from a rougher clay and were rarely painted. There is no necessary direct correlation between the quality of the ceramics and the status of the individual with whom the pottery was interred: the tomb of the Lord of Sipán, for example, contained over a thousand mostly simple and sloppily made vessels, whereas far humbler tombs could contain beautifully executed, complex vessels. Certain sites were clearly home to exceptionally talented potters, such as Dos Cabezas, where exquisite effigy vessels, made without the use of a mold, were carefully painted with slip, burnished, and fired.

Moche ceramic bottle, decorated with a depiction of a snake, h. 197 mm, 2nd–5th centuries (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Conny and Fred Landmann, 1992, Accession ID: 1992.60.9); image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Among the many forms produced by Moche potters, stirrup-spout bottles—so named for the spout’s resemblance to the foot-rests of a saddle, and a type of vessel popular on the north coast from as early as 1000 BCE—were especially frequent (see fig. ); floreros (large flat-bottomed dishes with flaring sides) and “poppers” (flattened spheroid “dippers” with a restricted opening and a handle) were of secondary importance. Vessels were well made, of a reddish-brown paste with quartz sand temper, thin walled (3–4 mm), and usually well controlled in firing. Bichrome decoration was most common, with red-brown paint on a white or cream slip the most frequent combination. Black was occasionally added for detail. In the second half of the 20th century, archaeologists arranged Moche ceramics into five stylistic phases, tracing an evolution from simpler to more complex imagery and an increasing reliance on molds to create vessels. Recent studies, however, have revealed greater regional variation, calling into question whether the phases are strictly chronological or whether the stylistic distinctions reflect some combination of time but also regional innovations and preferences.

Stirrup spout seated figure bottle, ceramic, h. 6 3/8 in. (16.2 cm), 2nd–5th century (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1882, Accession ID: 82.1.30); photo © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The subject matter of Moche art is remarkably broad. Themes range from the depiction of single figures to complex, clearly mythological scenes. Many simple, modeled stirrup-spout bottles represent local animals and plants: llamas, felines, owls, sea-birds, and gourds are frequently modeled, while a wider range of land and marine life is painted on vessel walls. Among the most striking depictions of humans are head-shaped “portrait” vessels, so-called for their seeming verisimilitude to a specific individual’s physiognomy (see fig. ). These were restricted in time and place, found primarily in the Chicama, Moche, and Virú valleys, from the 5th to the 7th centuries. Portrait vessels were mold-made, and multiple representations of what may be the same individual have been found at different sites. Facial painting, ear spools, and turbans or headdresses embellish the portraits. These vessels—apparently used before they were placed in burials—are not necessarily portraits of the deceased, as portraits of men have been found in the tombs of women. Full-body effigies depict a range of individuals, including warriors, ritual specialists, and others (see fig. ). Warriors are often shown on one knee with shield and club at the ready; regal figures, seated cross-legged, display elaborate headdresses and large ear spools. Women are depicted as mothers with children, or as weavers, but also as ritual specialists. They are also seen on a well-published subset of ceramics depicting a range of sexual behaviors between humans, and between humans and animated skeletons. Physical deformities are occasionally shown, with blindness, cleft palates, and hunchbacks clearly displayed.

Moche ceramic artists were the creators and masters of a painting style called fineline, in which red slip is delicately painted on a buff background. To date, fineline ceramics have only been found in high-status burials, and usually only one or two vessels of this style would be found in a tomb. The style becomes increasingly complex over time, and while it has been found in multiple valleys, some of the most complex come from the Jequetepeque Valley. Humans, anthropomorphic figures, and most animals are shown in profile, with their actions wrapped around the vessel. These visual narratives are sometimes divided into sections by horizontal lines, vertical lines, or both. Certain themes were clearly of great importance and were painted on more than one vessel. The essential components of an elaborate burial scene, for example, are shown in great detail, but slightly differently, on numerous vessels. Another theme, now known as the Sacrifice Ceremony, is the climax of an extended sequence of events known as the Warrior Narrative. The scene shows a figure with a rayed headdress holding a goblet, known as the Warrior Priest. He faces an anthropomorphic bird and a figure with snakelike tresses, known as the Priestess. On the periphery of this central action bound captives are sacrificed and their blood is collected in cups. The most detailed representations of the scene contain still more characters, animals, and objects. Excavations at Sipán, San José de Moro, and other sites have presented intriguing connections with the Sacrifice Ceremony, as certain individuals were interred wearing the type of regalia worn by figures in the scene, suggesting that such rituals were conducted by the Moche people.

The verism and narrative quality of Moche ceramics, however, has led to interpretive challenges, as the seemingly “true-to-life” character of Moche art—especially in comparison to other ancient Andean visual traditions—has on occasion led to misleading assumptions. Earlier in the 20th century, scholars suggested that Moche artists depicted the world they saw around them, and the images they produced could be used as text for reconstructing their daily lives. In the latter part of the 20th century, however, scholars began to reveal the deeper symbolic dimensions of even simple animal and botanical effigies.

Scholars have deployed a variety of approaches to understand Moche ceramics. Some have looked to contemporary traditional practices, such as healing ceremonies or other rituals, to interpret iconography. Others have pursued linguistic, semiotic, and structuralist approaches. The extraordinary rich corpus of Moche ceramics, a corpus that is immeasurably enhanced by the wealth of new discoveries of works uncovered through controlled, scientific excavations, promises abundant possibilities for new ways of thinking about Moche art and culture.

(b) Metals.

The Moche were arguably the most inventive metalsmiths of the ancient Andes. They employed a broad suite of technologies to achieve desired effects, including various surface enrichments including depletion gilding and electrochemical replacement plating. Perhaps their most important contribution, however, was the development of a sizable copper-working industry, exploiting the abundant ores of the Central Andes. The introduction of copper—stronger than gold or silver—expanded the range of works that could be made of metal.

The most elaborate works in metal were items made for ritual and regalia. The Moche primarily used copper, silver, gold, and their alloys to create spectacular headdresses, ear ornaments, nose ornaments, collars, and other adornments (see fig. ). A striking copper funerary mask with gilded copper attachments and eyes inlaid with shell and stone was excavated at Dos Cabezas in the Jequeteque Valley; another gilded copper mask (Stuttgart, Linden-Mus.) was recovered from Huaca de la Luna earlier in the 20th century. Occasionally scepters, ceremonial weapons, and even small figures (of unknown purpose) were made in metal.

Moche (Loma Negra) nose ornament with shrimp; Gold, silver, stone; 12.4 x 19.1 x 0.3 cm, 6th–7th century (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979, Accession ID: 1979.206.1236)

In the early colonial period, different metals carried different symbolic associations: gold was associated with the sun, royalty, and men; silver with the moon, the lesser nobility, and women. Moche metalsmiths perfected ways of joining silver and gold, and many ornaments feature striking bimetallic compositions, surely reflecting certain cosmological and social ideas about balance and complementarity. Moche metalsmiths also experimented with a variety of techniques to achieve certain surface effects. Objects made of copper, or of binary or ternary alloys with gold and silver, were gilded and silvered using sophisticated technologies. Works were gilded through the depletion of copper and silver from the surface of an alloy via mechanical or chemical means, but gold and silver could also be deposited on the surface of pure copper through the use of an electrochemical replacement plating process.

Although casting was known, Moche metalsmiths preferred working with metal sheet: copper, gold, or silver would be hammered into thin sheets and the desired shapes would be achieved through cutting and then working the sheet, joining separate parts mechanically with tabs, or soldering edges together. Metal sheet was used occasionally to embellish ceremonial weapons, such as those of the Lady of Cao, from the El Brujo Archaeological Complex. It was also cut and used as dangling elements on ornaments, catching the light and undoubtedly creating a dazzling effect when seen in performance.

In comparison with earlier periods, the scale of metal production was impressive, as reflected in the high-status burials at Sipán, El Brujo, Ucupe, and other sites. The tomb of the Lord of Sipán contained extraordinarily fine sets of regalia, including multiple pairs of ear ornaments, headdresses, and other objects. The Lady of Cao was laid to rest with no fewer than forty-four bimetallic nose ornaments. These spectacular tombs, all excavated since 1987, are also painful reminders of what has been lost. One can only imagine what Huaca del Sol, Huaca de la Luna, and other structures originally contained before they were systematically looted beginning in the 16th century. Recent excavations have, fortunately, restored a sense of the magnitude, and the magnificence, of Moche metalworking, but also the distinct ways in which this medium was deployed in the greatest rituals of their time.

See also South America, Pre-Columbian, §I, 1(ii): Cultural geography and chronology: Central Andean area ; Pre-Columbian South America: Ethnohistory and Archaeology .

Benson, E. P. The Mochica: A Culture of Peru . New York, 1972.
Donnan, C. B. and McClelland, D. The Burial Theme in Moche Iconography . Washington, DC, 1979.
Lechtman, H. , Erlij, A. , and Barry, Jr., E. J. “New Perspectives on Moche Metallurgy: Techniques of Gilding Copper at Loma Negra, Northern Peru.” American Antiquity 47, no. 1 (1985): 3–76.
Donnan, C. B. Ceramics of Ancient Peru . Los Angeles, 1992.
Schorsch, D. , Howe, E. G. , and Wypyski, M. T. “Silvered and Gilded Copper Metalwork from Loma Negra: Manufacture and Aesthetics.” Boletín Museo del Oro 4 (1996): 145–163.
Schorsch, D. “Silver-and-gold Moche Artifacts from Loma Negra, Peru.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal 33 (1998): 109–136.
Donnan, C. B. and McClelland, D. Moche Fineline Painting: Its Evolution and its Artists . Los Angeles, 1999.
Jones, J. “Innovation and Resplendence: Metalwork for Moche Lords.” In Moche Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru , edited by J. Pillsbury , 206–221. Washington, DC, 2001.
Russell, G. S. and Jackson, M. A. “Political Economy and Patronage at Cerro Mayal, Peru.” In Moche Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru , edited by J. Pillsbury , 158–175. Washington, DC, 2001.
Donnan, C. B. Moche Portraits from Ancient Peru . Austin, 2004.
Weismantel, M. “Moche Sex Pots: Reproduction and Temporality in Ancient South America.” American Anthropologist 106, no. 3 (2004): 495–505.
Bourget, S. Sex, Death, and Sacrifice in Moche Religion and Visual Culture . Austin, 2006.
Donnan, C. B. Moche Tombs at Dos Cabezas . Los Angeles, 2007.
McClelland, D. , McClelland, D. , and Donnan, C. B. Moche Fineline Painting from San José de Moro . Los Angeles, 2007.
Jackson, M. A. Moche Art and Visual Culture in Ancient Peru . Albuquerque, 2008.
Quilter, J. The Moche of Ancient Peru: Media and Messages . Cambridge, MA, 2010.
Lechtman, H. “Andean Metallurgy in Prehistory.” In Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective: Methods and Syntheses , edited by B. W. Roberts and C. P. Thornton , 361–422. New York, 2014.
Aimi, A. and others. “Hacia una nueva cronología de Sipán.” In Lambayeque: Nuevos horizontes de la arqueología peruana , edited by A. Aimi , K. Makowski , and E. Perassi , 128–154. Milan, 2016.
Castillo, L. “Masters of the Universe: Moche Artists and Their Patrons.” In Golden Kingdoms: Luxury Arts in the Ancient Americas , edited by J. Pillsbury , 24–31. Los Angeles, 2017.
Scher, S. “High-Ranking Women and Masculine Imagery in Moche Art and Burial Ensembles.” In Dressing the Part: Power, Dress, Gender, and Representation in the Pre-Columbian Americas , edited by S. E. M. Scher and B. J. A. Follensbee , 450–481. Gainesville, 2017.

External Resources

Moche Iconography , Dumbarton Oaks: https://www.doaks.org/resources/moche-iconography (accessed Nov 12, 2020).
“Moche Nose Ornament with Intertwined Serpents.” Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/313400?searchField=All&sortBy=relevance&ft=Moche&offset=20&rpp=20&pos=26 (accessed Nov 12, 2020).
“Moche Nose Ornament with Shrimp.” Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/313411?searchField=All&sortBy=relevance&ft=Moche&offset=340&rpp=40&pos=357 (accessed Nov 12, 2020).
“Moche Pair of Ear Ornaments with Winged Runners.” Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/319459?searchField=All&sortBy=relevance&ft=Moche&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=8 (accessed Nov 12, 2020).
“Moche–Wari Tunic.” Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/315786?searchField=All&sortBy=relevance&ft=Moche&offset=20&rpp=20&pos=23 (access Nov 12, 2020).

External resources

None: Portrait Vessel, 100-150 AD, Worcester Art Museum (Worcester, MA)
None: Moche Portrait Vessel of a Ruler, 400-600, Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
None: Moche Portrait Bottle, 200-500 AD, Mint Museums of Art (Charlotte, NC)
None: Pair of Earflares, 3rd-7th cent. AD, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
None: Tunic, 7th-9th cent. AD, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
None: Moche Warrior Figural Jar, 5th-6th cent. AD, Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Minneapolis, MN)
None: Moche Stirrup Handle Jar, 5th-6th cent. AD, Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Minneapolis, MN)
None: Moche (Pair of Ear Ornaments), AD 100-800, Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX)
None: Moche Stirrup Spout Bottle, AD 400, Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, DC)
None: Moche Figurine, AD 400, Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, DC)
None: Moche Stirrup-spout Vessel with Deer Hunting Scenes, AD 450-550, Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, TX)
None: Moche Vessel Representing a Warrior, 100 BC-500, Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
None: Moche Stirrup Spouted Jar in Feline Form, 100 BC-AD 700, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA)
None: Moche Stirrup Spouted Jar in the Form of Male Head, 200-500, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA)
None: Moche Gold Jaguar, 400-100 BC, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, VA)

Printed from Grove Art Online. Grove is a registered trademark. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy).

date: 15 September 2024

Cookie Policy
Privacy Policy
Legal Notice
Accessibility
[81.177.182.154]
81.177.182.154

Character limit 500 /500

Collectibles

The Moche Civilization of Ancient Peru: Artisans, Warriors and Priests of the Northern Coast

by history tools
May 26, 2024

Introduction

In the deserts and river valleys of Peru‘s northern coast, an extraordinary civilization flourished in the centuries before European contact. The Moche or Mochica culture originated around 100 AD and went on to build a complex society of sophisticated artisans, fierce warriors, and powerful priest-kings. At their peak, they created some of ancient South America‘s most stunning visual art and monumental architecture.

While the Moche left no written records, recent archaeological discoveries have illuminated their religious beliefs, political structure, technological abilities and cultural practices. The Moche world emerges as a linked mosaic of coastal kingdoms sharing an elite culture and artistic style, supported by advanced agricultural systems and wide-ranging trade networks.

Geography and Timeline

The Moche homeland stretched along the Pacific coast and foothills of modern northern Peru. Their settlements extended 550 km from the Piura River valley in the north to the Huarmey River valley in the south, encompassing an area of approximately 80,000 square kilometers. The Moche also established communities in the Chincha Islands.

Scholars divide the Moche era into five phases based on ceramic styles:

Phase I (AD 100-200)
Phase II (AD 200-450)
Phase III (AD 450-550)
Phase IV (AD 550-700)
Phase V (AD 700-800)

The early phases saw the emergence of distinctively Moche cultural attributes and the construction of the first ceremonial pyramids. Moche political and military power, population size, and artistic production peaked in Phases III and IV before a period of fragmentation, decline and eventual collapse in Phase V.

Key Archaeological Sites and Discoveries

Moche archaeological sites have attracted researchers since the late 1800s. Key excavated sites include:

Huacas de Moche: This massive site near modern Trujillo contains the Huaca del Sol, the largest adobe structure in the Americas at over 40 m tall, and the smaller Huaca de la Luna with its vividly painted murals.

Sipán: A series of royal tombs were discovered here in the 1980s, most famously the opulent, undisturbed burial of the Lord of Sipán. Dated to around AD 300, it contained hundreds of gold, silver and shell artifacts.

San José de Moro: This site in the Jequetepeque River valley functioned as a ceremonial and funerary center for Moche elites. It features the elaborate tombs of at least three Moche priestesses.

Huaca Cao Viejo: Another richly appointed burial of a high-status woman, the Lady of Cao, was found here in 2006 along with a large cache of grave goods.

Important Moche artifacts are now housed in museums around the world, such as the Larco Museum in Lima, the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History in Lima, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the British Museum in London.

Material Culture and Iconography

The Moche are renowned for their artistic achievements in ceramic, metallurgy and textiles. Moche pottery was made in molds, allowing mass production, but each piece was individually painted after firing. The most famous creations are highly realistic portrait head vessels, effigy pots, and containers decorated with complex scenes of mythology, warfare and daily life.

Moche metalworkers exhibited great skill and creativity in fashioning objects from gold, silver, copper and tumbaga (gold-copper alloy). Elite burials contained exquisite headdresses, pectorals, necklaces, nose ornaments, earspools and other jewelry inlaid with precious stones. Gilded copper figurines and ceremonial weapons also attest to Moche metallurgical abilities.

Textiles were another important craft, used for clothing, banners, and burial wrappings. Moche weavers used cotton and wool from llamas and alpacas to create finely worked fabrics in a variety of techniques, including embroidery, tapestry, and painted cloth. Garments were indicators of social status and emblems of political office.

Moche murals are known from several sites, most notably Huaca de la Luna and El Brujo. These polychrome friezes depict a panoply of figures from Moche religion and mythology, including elite individuals, supernatural beings, and anthropomorphic animal characters. Battle scenes and images of captives are also common motifs.

Subsistence, Technology and Urban Life

The Moche built their civilization in the arid plains and dry forests of the Peruvian coastal desert. Rainfall averages less than 50 mm per year in this region, so Moche farmers depended on rivers flowing from the Andes mountains to irrigate their fields. Using a sophisticated system of canals and aqueducts, they tapped this water source to grow maize, beans, squash, avocados, guava, chili peppers and cotton.

The Pacific Ocean was another key resource zone, providing fish, shellfish, seaweed and salt. Moche fishermen used nets, lines, harpoons, flotation devices and reed boats to harvest a variety of marine species. Sardines and anchovies were used to make dried fish flour. Camelid livestock, including llamas and alpacas, were herded in the foothills for meat, wool and dung fuel.

The Moche lacked many tools and technologies that were widespread in the Old World at the same time, such as the wheel, iron, alphabetic writing, and draft animals. However, they were masterful engineers, constructing cities, temples, canals, reservoirs and roads. The capital city of Cerro Blanco covered nearly 300 hectares. Moche centers also contained craft workshops, storage facilities and large walled plazas for public gatherings.

Society and Politics

Moche society was strongly stratified with a powerful ruling class controlling land, labor and trade. Moche lords lived in palaces, wore elaborate costume elements like gold headdresses and pectorals as emblems of rank, and were buried in opulent tombs filled with sacrificed retainers and sumptuous grave offerings. Military might was a key source of Moche political power, as leaders mobilized armies to subdue rivals, seize captives and exact tribute.

However, the Moche were not politically unified in a single empire or kingdom. Instead, the Moche world was a network of autonomous polities that shared a religious ideology, ruling culture and elite artistic style. At least two distinct traditions are evident, a northern one centered in the Lambayeque region and a southern one in the Chicama, Moche and Viru valleys. Each region had its own characteristic ceramic styles, burial practices and architectural forms.

Moche gender roles appear to have been relatively fluid compared to many ancient societies. The discovery of elite female burials like the Lady of Cao suggests that some women held high political and religious status. Men and women are both depicted on pottery engaging in activities like weaving, and some scholars argue that Moche rulership may have involved male-female co-governance.

Religion and Ritual

Religion suffused Moche life and politics. The Moche pantheon featured a principal creator couple (the Moon Goddess Si and the Earth God Aia-Paec), nature deities (the Mountain God, the Sea God, the Air God), fearsome supernatural creatures (the Decapitator, Wrinkle Face, the Iguana), and mythological heroes (the Warrior Priest, the Owl Priest, the Priestess). These characters populated a rich corpus of Moche tales and visual narratives.

Ritual practices included sacrifices of humans and animals, ceremonial banquets, songs and dances, burning of offerings, and ritual battles. Warfare and the capture of prisoners for sacrifice was a central theme. A famous Moche artistic motif known as the Presentation Theme shows goblet-bearing female figures and armed male warriors flanking a central priestess or lord brandishing a tumi ritual knife and a severed head.

Many of these rites likely took place in and around the massive stepped pyramids that the Moche erected at their ceremonial centers. Archaeologists have also found evidence of smaller ritual performances and feasts at rural hinterland sites.

The End of the Moche World

The Moche florescence came to an end in the 8th century AD, but the reasons why remain the subject of debate. Many scholars point to environmental factors. Sediment cores from Peru‘s coast show evidence of repeated severe El Niño events between about AD 560-650, which would have caused torrential rainfall and flooding. At the same time, cores from Andean lakes indicate multi-decadal droughts during the 6th century.

These climatic disruptions may have overwhelmed the Moche‘s irrigation infrastructure, leading to agricultural collapse and famine. There is evidence of sand dune encroachment on farmland and canals during this period. Other scholars emphasize internal social and political factors, such as increasing conflict between Moche centers leading to political fragmentation, population displacement and the dissolution of elite trading networks.

Whatever the causes, urban life and elite culture disappeared from most of the Moche world by 800 AD. However, elements of Moche culture and technology survived and were transformed by later societies in the region, such as the Sican and Chimu. The Moche legacy lived on in the desert cities, ingenious canals, and vivid artistic traditions of Peru‘s northern coast.

Although they left no written histories, the Moche speak to us through their exquisite material remains and monumental ruins. Ongoing archaeological research continues to reveal new facets of this fascinating civilization. As one prominent Moche scholar puts it:

"Few ancient cultures have captured the modern imagination as much as the Moche, with their elaborate visual representations of rituals, warriors, and supernatural beings. The Moche have become an iconic ancient Peruvian civilization whose distinct material culture provides unparalleled insights into the ritual activities of Pre-Hispanic peoples." (Quilter, 2010, p. 1)

The Moche rose from the coastal deserts to build a flourishing world of temples, cities, art and power – a grand cultural experiment that still astonishes and intrigues us more than a millennium after its demise. As research continues, there is undoubtedly much more to discover about this enduring civilization of Peru‘s ancient past.

Bawden, G. (1996). The Moche. Blackwell Publishers.
Donnan, C.B. & Castillo, L.J. (1994). Excavaciones de tumbas de sacerdotisas Moche en San José de Moro, Jequetepeque. In S. Uceda & E. Mujica (Eds.), Moche: Propuestas y Perspectivas (pp. 415-424). Trujillo: Universidad Nacional de la Libertad.
Quilter, J. (2010). The Moche of Ancient Peru: Media and Messages. Peabody Museum Press.
Shimada, I. (1994). Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture. University of Texas Press.
Zobler, K.A. & Sutter, R. (2016). A Bioarchaeological and Biogeochemical Study of Warfare and Mobility in the Moche Valley of Ancient Peru. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 26(1), pp. 93-103.

The Art of War: A Historian‘s Perspective on Roman Military Tactics
Rome‘s Early Rivals: The Rise and Fall of Carthage
The Enduring Wonders of Ancient Rome: 10 Incredible Buildings and Structures That Still Stand Today
The Chaotic Sex Life of King Philip II of Macedon – Alexander the Great‘s Dad
The Last Civil War of the Roman Republic: A Historian‘s Perspective
The Marvels of North Africa During Roman Times: A Historian‘s Perspective
The Oldest Coins in the World: Windows into Ancient Economies
The Rise and Fall of Roman London: From Provincial Outpost to Imperial Capital

Subject List
Take a Tour
For Authors
Subscriber Services
Publications
African American Studies
African Studies
American Literature
Anthropology
Architecture Planning and Preservation

Art History

Atlantic History
Biblical Studies
British and Irish Literature
Childhood Studies
Chinese Studies
Cinema and Media Studies
Communication
Criminology
Environmental Science
Evolutionary Biology
International Law
International Relations
Islamic Studies
Jewish Studies
Latin American Studies
Latino Studies
Linguistics
Literary and Critical Theory
Medieval Studies
Military History
Political Science
Public Health
Renaissance and Reformation
Social Work
Urban Studies
Victorian Literature
Browse All Subjects

How to Subscribe

Free Trials

In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Moche Art

Introduction, general overviews.

Edited Volumes
Early Studies of Moche Art
Methodological Approaches
Interpretations of Moche Pictorial Imagery
Moche High-Status Tombs
Architecture
Ceramic Arts
Jewelry, Inlay, and Metalwork
Colonial Sources
Ethnographic and Ethnohistoric Materials
Curanderismo and Shamanism

Other Subject Areas

Forthcoming articles expand or collapse the "forthcoming articles" section.

Art of the Catholic Religious Orders in Medieval Europe
Color in European Art and Architecture
Jusepe de Ribera
Find more forthcoming articles...
Export Citations
Share This Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Moche Art by Margaret A. Jackson LAST REVIEWED: 11 January 2018 LAST MODIFIED: 11 January 2018 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199920105-0120

The Moche of the North Coast of Peru ( c . 100–800 CE ) are well known for having produced artworks of impressive technical virtuosity and complex figural imagery. Moche cultural remains are found throughout their coastal homelands, with works in the form of monumental pyramids and temple complexes extensively decorated with polychrome murals, elaborately modeled and painted ceramic vessels, elite tombs, sophisticated textiles, and metalwork. Yet despite abundant art and architecture, the Moche are essentially an “archaeological culture,” meaning that all interpretations depend heavily on archaeological findings to contextually anchor the group within the larger trajectory of Andean culture history. The only direct evidence of Moche is in the form of biological remains, material artifacts, and a rich corpus of visual imagery. This results in a bibliographic source list heavily infused with archaeological method and visual analysis. Interpretations typically depend on an interdisciplinary evidence derived from archaeological, ethnographic, ethnohistoric, linguistic, and art historical methods, and the interpretive literature for Moche often falls along disciplinary lines; most conclusions represent a synthesis of approaches. Broadly speaking, scholars of Moche art tend to focus on articulation of contextual parameters, such as architectural, social, and environmental factors, as well as the role of human agency in the creation of meaning and message, versus hermeneutic explorations of internal structures and meanings, graphic and formal analyses, semiotic relationships, symbolism, and iconology. No bibliography is definitive and multiple points of entry are possible for the interested reader. Many articles derive from larger collections of essays in edited volumes; the reader is encouraged to investigate those expanded works for additional essays on related material.

Moche was never a unified empire, despite evidence for long standing political alliances; thus, it is incorrect to speak of Moche as if it were a monolithic culture. Instead, it appears the Moche were a collection of interdependent autonomous or semiautonomous polities, with numerous religious and urban centers located throughout North Coast valleys. Moche elites apparently shared religion and strategies of governance, and the people employed common subsistence methods for agriculture, fishing, and production of household goods. Work by Rafael Larco Hoyle ( Larco Hoyle 2001 , originally published 1938–1939) stands as the earliest comprehensive attempt at an overall description of Moche as discrete cultural entity. Colonial sources support the idea of venerable lineage clans in the coastal valleys, with intermarriage among elites, competition for resources, occasional hostility or warfare, and varying degrees of cooperation for maintenance of irrigation systems. Several sources elaborate on these cultural systems in synthetic manner; Castillo, et al. 2008 , for example, presents overviews of political organization based on art and archaeology. Moche centers of political dominance seem to have shifted over time; Shimada 1994 and Bawden 1996 discuss case studies for later Moche sites, such as Pampa Grande and Galindo. Art and visual culture have played an unusually important role in interpretations of Moche culture, politics, and ideology; formal analyses and thematic overviews by Benson 1972 , Donnan 1978 , and Hocquenghem 1987 opened the field for later works employing interdisciplinary approaches such as semasiography and narrative structure ( Jackson 2008 ; Quilter 2011 ).

Bawden, Garth. The Moche . Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996.

Synthesizing Moche studies ten years after the discovery of royal tombs at Sipan and asserting that the fundamental purpose of Moche artwork was to affirm and reinforce Moche elites’ right to rule, the author’s work on the developmental sequence of Moche culture is especially tuned to its final phases and the importance of the Moche Valley site of Galindo.

Benson, Elizabeth. The Mochica: A Culture of Peru . New York: Praeger, 1972.

Benson presents a detailed analysis of Moche ceramic art with emphasis on identifying a principal deity, Ai Ap’aec, and articulating a particular cohort of recurrent death imagery.

Benson, Elizabeth. The Worlds of the Moche . Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012.

Benson’s reprisal of her earlier work but with benefit of four decades of additional data and discovery. She includes excellent photos of significant art and architecture with expanded explanation of familiar Moche artistic themes.

Castillo B., Luis Jaime, and Santiago Uceda C. “The Mochicas.” In Handbook of South American Archaeology . Edited by Helaine Silverman and William Isbell, 707–730. New York: Springer, 2008.

The authors lay heavy challenge to the long-standing notion that Moche culture arose from a singular antecedent. Citing a range of evidence from coastal sites north and south, they argue that the Moche phenomenon had multiple origins and that Moche cultural forms were impacted by and, in some cases, overlay distinctive local traditions.

Donnan, Christopher B. Moche Art of Peru . Museum of Cultural History. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1978.

The book that influenced a generation of Moche scholarship, this well-organized, easy-to-read publication clearly articulates Donnan’s “Thematic Approach” to understanding Moche art. What later became the most famous of Moche images, the Presentation Theme, is described in detail here.

Hocquenghem, Anne Marie. Iconografica Mochica . Lima: Pontifica Universidad Catolica del Peru, Fondo Editorial, 1987.

This pioneering work in Spanish correlates Moche’s recurrent themes, which the author sees as essentially religious, with the ritual calendrical cycle, as determined from colonial sources. It provides an excellent source for line drawings, many of which follow after Kutscher 1950 (cited under Early Studies of Moche Art ).

Jackson, Margaret A. Moche Art and Visual Culture . Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2008.

This study contextualizes the Moche ceramic workshop at Cerro Mayal (Chicama Valley) in an effort to articulate the internal workings of Moche iconography and ceramic technology. Building on advances in communication and picture theory, the author applies semiotic and art historical studies of semasiography to Moche ceramic arts.

Larco Hoyle, Rafael. Los Mochicas . Lima: Museo Larco, 2001.

Enormously influential, these two volumes represent the first detailed attempt at a comprehensive definition of Moche North Coast society as a distinct cultural entity not directly related to highland Inca. Larco addresses agriculture, political organization, and the coastal environment in relation to artistic representations. Originally published as two volumes in 1938–1939, the recent reprint features expanded use of color images.

Quilter, Jeffrey. The Moche of Ancient Peru: Media and Messages . Boston: Peabody Museum, Harvard, 2011.

Well illustrated with mostly images of artworks in the Peabody Museum, this general introduction provides ready access to the current state of Moche studies, addressing the relationship between archaeology and interpretations of imagery.

Shimada, Izumi. Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture . Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.

Pampa Grande is considered to have been the last great urbanization associated with Moche culture, complete with large platform structures and craft workshops. Located in the northern Moche area, in the Lambayeque Valley ( c . 600–750 CE ), Shimada articulates the city’s main features and hypothesizes some of the reasons that the northern and southern Moche areas took divergent cultural trajectories during later Moche history.

Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login .

Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here .

About Art History »
Meet the Editorial Board »
Activist and Socially Engaged Art
Adornment, Dress, and African Arts of the Body
Alessandro Algardi
Ancient Egyptian Art
Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) Art
Angkor and Environs
Art and Archaeology of the Bronze Age in China
Art and Architecture in the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary
Art and Propaganda
Art of Medieval Iberia
Art of the Crusader Period in the Levant
Art of the Dogon
Art of the Mamluks
Art of the Plains Peoples
Art Restitution
Artemisia Gentileschi
Arts of Senegambia
Arts of the Pacific Islands
Assyrian Art and Architecture
Australian Aboriginal Art
Aztec Empire, Art of the
Babylonian Art and Architecture
Bamana Arts and Mande Traditions
Barbizon Painting
Bartolomeo Ammannati
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo
Bohemia and Moravia, Renaissance and Rudolphine Art of
Borromini, Francesco
Brazilian Art and Architecture, Post-independence
Burkina Art and Performance
Byzantine Art and Architecture
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da
Carracci, Annibale
Ceremonial Entries in Early Modern Europe
Chaco Canyon and Other Early Art in the North American Sou...
Chicana/o Art
Colonial Art of New Granada (Colombia)
Conceptual Art and Conceptualism
Contemporary Art
Courbet, Gustave
Czech Modern and Contemporary Art
Daumier, Honoré
David, Jacques-Louis
Delacroix, Eugène
Design, Garden and Landscape
Destruction in Art
Destruction in Art Symposium (DIAS)
Dürer, Albrecht
Early Christian Art
Early Medieval Architecture in Western Europe
Early Modern European Engravings and Etchings, 1400–1700
Eighteenth-Century Europe
Ephemeral Art and Performance in Africa
Ethiopia, Art History of
European Art, Historiography of
European Medieval Art, Otherness in
Expressionism
Eyck, Jan van
Feminism and 19th-century Art History
Festivals in West Africa
Francisco de Zurbarán
French Impressionism
Gender and Art in the Middle Ages
Gender and Art in the Renaissance
Gender and Art in the 17th Century
Giotto di Bondone
Gothic Architecture
Gothic Art in Italy
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco José
Great Zimbabwe and its Legacy
Greek Art and Architecture
Greenberg, Clement
Géricault, Théodore
Iconography in the Western World
Installation Art
Islamic Art and Architecture in North Africa and the Iberi...
Japanese Architecture
Japanese Buddhist Painting
Japanese Buddhist Sculpture
Japanese Ceramics
Japanese Literati Painting and Calligraphy
Jewish Art, Ancient
Jewish Art, Medieval to Early Modern
Jewish Art, Modern and Contemporary
Jones, Inigo
Josefa de Óbidos
Kahlo, Frida
Katsushika Hokusai
Lastman, Pieter
Leonardo da Vinci
Luca della Robbia (or the Della Robbia Family)
Luisa Roldán
Markets and Auctions, Art
Marxism and Art
Medieval Art and Liturgy (recent approaches)
Medieval Art and the Cult of Saints
Medieval Art in Scandinavia, 400-800
Medieval Textiles
Meiji Painting
Merovingian Period Art
Modern Sculpture
Monet, Claude
Māori Art and Architecture
Museums in Australia
Museums of Art in the West
Native North American Art, Pre-Contact
Nazi Looting of Art
New Media Art
New Spain, Art and Architecture
Pacific Art, Contemporary
Palladio, Andrea
Parthenon, The
Paul Gauguin
Performance Art
Perspective from the Renaissance to Post-Modernism, Histor...
Peter Paul Rubens
Philip II and El Escorial
Photography, History of
Pollock, Jackson
Polychrome Sculpture in Early Modern Spain
Postmodern Architecture
Pre-Hispanic Art of Columbia
Psychoanalysis, Art and
Qing Dynasty Painting
Rembrandt van Rijn
Renaissance and Renascences
Renaissance Art and Architecture in Spain
Rimpa School
Rivera, Diego
Rodin, Auguste
Romanticism
Science and Conteporary Art
Sculpture: Method, Practice, Theory
South Asia and Allied Textile Traditions, Wall Painting of
South Asia, Modern and Contemporary Art of
South Asia, Photography in
South Asian Architecture and Sculpture, 13th to 18th Centu...
South Asian Art, Historiography of
The Art of Medieval Sicily and Southern Italy through the ...
The Art of Southern Italy and Sicily under Angevin and Cat...
Theory in Europe to 1800, Art
Timurid Art and Architecture
Turner, Joseph Mallord William
van Gogh, Vincent
Warburg, Aby
Warhol, Andy
Wittelsbach Patronage from the late Middle Ages to the Thi...
Women, Art, and Art History: Gender and Feminist Analyses
Yuan Dynasty Art
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Legal Notice
Accessibility

[81.177.182.154]
81.177.182.154

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

We're Hiring!
Help Center

Time and Space-Time in Moche Fineline Painting (MA Dissertation)

This dissertation concerns the way in which Moche of the pre-Columbian northern coast of Peru expressed conceptualisations of space-time in fineline paintings. The starting point of this analysis is that many paintings present a narrative, which inherently concerns temporal passage as the action progresses. The exact linear direction in which the narrative unfolds within a single fineline painting, however, is ambiguous. I therefore review the criteria by which temporal passage is inferred, and present an alternative way in which space-time may have been expressed in fineline paintings. This alternative draws on archaeological and ethnographic (linguistic) data suggestive of Moche space-time conceptualisations, and emphasises the phenomenal experience of the viewer who engages with globular vessels that require rotating to view the painting. Through the viewer’s engagement, the narrative unfolds in a nonlinear manner, conflating numerous spatio-temporal journeys and conveying space- time by reassuring of its continued presence. In this sense, the viewer’s experience of space- time involved in handling the vessel is intimately tied to space-time expression in fineline paintings. The final discussion therefore concerns how Moche viewers engaged with painted vessels, and comments on the limitations of studies, such as this, utilising flat rollout drawings.

Related Papers

… of art: time, place, and identity

Sally K May , Ines Domingo Sanz , Danae Fiore

The Medieval Discourse

Peter Nesteruk

Heather Richards-Rissetto

This paper investigates the possibility of integration of local knowledge into Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for cultural applications, focused in the American Southwest. Many indigenous communities around the world live according to different principles and their knowledge system(s) differ significantly from the intellectual framework of western researchers. As GIS is now routinely being used in anthropological and archaeological applications we need to question the validity of these systems as interpretive frameworks for cultural understanding. Research presented in this paper focuses on identifying different concepts and ideas about space, time, geographical knowledge, and worldview among communities in New Mexico. It is then discussed if and how we can integrate this knowledge in our standard geospatial analytical practices to reach a better understanding of cultural differences and different patterns that will result from those differences, exemplified by pre-colonial ...

The New York Public Library Mid-Manhattan Branch, World Languages Collection, 2011

Mónica Sarmiento-Archer

The New York Public Library and one of its programming committees, NYPL at Nite, is doing a series of talks as part of an exhibit that runs from January 31st through May 16th at the Mid-Manhattan Branch. These talks are the result of a project that began with a Spanish Conversation Group, where non-Spanish speakers could come and practice this beautiful language. The Exhibit of Pre-Columbian Art was set up to expose this conversation group and all New Yorkers to the Native American Art of South America, and this was the starting point that has taken us to its linguistic evolution and its relation with the Spanish Language. As such, the Spanish Language influenced the and shaped the culture of the original inhabitants of South America. You will find below the list of conference planned for these two months, which will give you an understanding of the project as a whole. La Biblioteca Pública de Nueva York y uno de sus comités de programación, NYPL at Nite, está realizando una serie de charlas como parte de una exhibición que se llevará a cabo del 31 de enero al 16 de mayo en la sucursal de Mid-Manhattan. Estas charlas son el resultado de un proyecto que comenzó con un grupo de conversación en español, donde los no hispanohablantes podían venir y practicar este hermoso idioma. La exposición de arte precolombino se creó para exponer a este grupo de conversación y a todos los neoyorquinos al arte nativo americano de América del Sur, y este fue el punto de partida que nos ha llevado a su evolución lingüística y su relación con el idioma español. Como tal, el idioma español influyó y moldeó la cultura de los habitantes originales de América del Sur. A continuación, encontrará la lista de conferencias planificadas para estos dos meses, que le permitirán comprender el proyecto en su conjunto.

Paolo Fortis

This volume examines the way objects and images relate to and shape notions of temporality and history. Bringing together ethnographic studies from the Lowlands of Central and South America and Melanesia, it explores the temporality inhering in images and artefacts from a comparative perspective. The chapters focus on how peoples in both regions ‘live in’ and ‘navigate’ time each through their distinctive systems of images and the processes and actions by which these come to be manifest in objects. With original theoretical and ethnographic contributions, the book is valuable reading for scholars interested in visual and material culture and in anthropological approaches to time.

Carlos Ausejo

Navigation in pre-Hispanic times in the Andean region has been a topic of discussion among researchers for years. Different sources of information lead us to believe that at least one type of marine craft was in use and involved in long distance trade at the arrival of the Spaniards. However, the debate surrounding earlier periods is stronger due to the lack of evidence in archaeological records. Most evidence consists of iconographic or sculptural depictions on pottery; wall friezes; and, ultimately, references gathered by chroniclers – but not a single remain of any kind of vessel. This situation has lead researchers to believe that marine crafts like the “Caballito de Totora” (“reed horse”) were just simpler tools without any further development. However, one particular type of watercraft represented in the Moche iconography apparently contradicts this idea, the “reed boat”. Moche fine line paintings portray this particular type of vessel, which differs from the traditional “reed horse” vessel, and seems to be capable of holding considerable cargo and occupants. Although the use of totora constitutes the oldest tradition for constructing rafts and boats along the coast and in the Titicaca region, unfortunately, as mentioned above, there is no evidence of such rafts or boats in the archaeological record apart from the iconographic depictions. In spite of this, we suggest that “reed boats” represented a real boat just as other real Moche characters were represented in their iconography, such as the “Lord of Sipan” or “The Priestesses of San Jose de Moro”. Moreover the reed boats were a technological innovation, which filled particular needs to perform rituals in times of ecological distress and to procure certain sumptuary items.

David Charles Wright Carr

The Huamantla Map is a cartographic and historical manuscript, painted by speakers of the Otomi language in the eastern Tlaxcala province on a large rectangle of fig-bark paper during the final third of the 16 th century. Originally measuring approximately 7.0 by 1.9 meters, it represents a strip of land extending from the mountains northwest of the Valley of Mexico to the southeastern slope of La Malinche volcano. Within this geographic setting, designed in the native central Mexican tradition, the collective past of the Otomi of Huamantla is depicted, superimposing a narrative structure on the landscape. The story begins with the emergence of sacred ancestors from a primordial cave in cosmological time and ends with the adaptation of the native lords of Huamantla to Spanish colonial rule. The exceptionally large format of this environmentally embedded and socially situated cognitive tool suggests certain types of bodily interaction with its surface, at the time of its execution and during public performances of the story it contains. On a smaller scale, the meaningful placement of pictorial representations of human bodies within this pictorial space provides a path to reflection on the way the Otomi perceived their relationship with the geographic, cultural, and political landscape surrounding them. Resumen: El Mapa de Huamantla es un manuscrito cartográfico e histórico, pintado por otomíes del oriente de la provincia de Tlaxcala sobre un gran rectángulo de papel de amate durante el último tercio del siglo XVI. En su estado original, medía alrededor de 7.0 por 1.9 metros; representa una franja de tierra que se extiende desde las montañas al noroeste del valle de México hasta la falda oriental del volcán La Malinche. Dentro de este entorno geográfico, diseñado dentro de la tradición pictórica indígena del centro de México, se representa el pasado colectivo de los otomíes de Huamantla, sobreponiendo una estructura narrativa al paisaje. La historia inicia con el surgimiento de los antepasados sagrados en el tiempo cosmogónico y termina con la adaptación de los señores indios de Huamantla al dominio colonial español. El formato de esta herramienta cognitiva, socialmente situada, es excepcionalmente grande; esto sugiere ciertos tipos de interacción corporal con su superficie, tanto en el momento de su ejecución como en las actuaciones públicas de la historia que encierra. En una escala menor, la colocación significativa de las representaciones de cuerpos humanos dentro del espacio cartográfico permite la reflexión acerca de cómo los otomíes percibían su relación con el paisaje geográfico, cultural y político que les rodeaba.

Richard Woodfield

Addressed to students of the image–both art historians and students of visual studies–this book investigates the history and nature of time in a variety of different environments and media as well as the temporal potential of objects. Essays will analyze such topics as the disparities of power that privilege certain forms of temporality above others, the nature of temporal duration in different cultures,

HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory

Comment on Fausto, Carlos. 2020. Art effects: Image, agency, and ritual in Amazonia. Translated by David Rodgers. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

H-ART. Revista de historia, teoría y crítica de arte

H-ART. Revista de historia, teoría y crítica de arte , Gordon Ambrosino

Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Elizabeth DeMarrais

Marcella Giulia Lorenzi

Dragoş Gheorghiu

Art History

Marsha Meskimmon

Juliet Wiersema

Michele Koons

Edward Swenson

Gabriela Germana

Journal de la société des américanistes

Valentina Vapnarsky

Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture

Patricia Lagarde

Maria Gontarczuk

Journal of Pragmatics

Lydia Rodriguez

Pol Capdevila

Master of Science Thesis

Katrina Burch

Javier Urcid

Rosario Marrocco

Image, Memory and Monumentality: archaeological engagements with the material world: a celebration of the academic achievements of Professor Richard Bradley.

Ramon Fábregas Valcarce , Carlos Rodríguez Rellán

Lisa Trever

Journal of Media Practice

Anne Robinson

Jonathan Dubois

Andy Roddick

Thanos Zakopoulos

Ecosystem and Biodiversity of Amazonia

Paola Gonzalez

Navigation Breadcrumbs

Moche Depictions of Warfare

The Moche Archive of photographs and drawings, created by Christopher Donnan and now housed at Dumbarton Oaks, is a remarkable resource for the study of Moche civilization. Flourishing on the north coast of Peru between 100 and 800 CE, the Moche created ceramic vessels richly decorated with detailed, fineline paintings that relate complex tales. The surviving ceramics provide a wealth of information about Moche society and iconography. In 1966, Donnan began to document the art of the Moche by photographing the vessels, while his colleague, Donna McClelland, began drawing the images found on them. The archive that Donnan assembled now consists of approximately 160,000 photographs of Moche objects from museums and private collections around the world, accompanied by McClelland’s drawings.

The fineline paintings that wrap around Moche ceramic vessels cannot be captured by a single photograph, so Donna McClelland’s drawings enhance access to the thematic contents of the vessels’ decoration. These drawings, created to facilitate study of the ceramic vessels, are art objects in their own right. McClelland described the challenges of her process:

The problem of making a flat rollout drawing of the design on a spherical vessel is similar to that of a cartographer making a flat map of the spherical earth. Something similar to an ‘orange-peel’ map, rather than a Mercator projection must be created. Spaces are left at the top and bottom of the drawing to account for the conversion from a three-dimensional to a two-dimensional drawing. The need for this extra space must be balanced against the need to have figures interact and be juxtaposed in a manner similar to the composition on the vessel. This requires an understanding of the art to know where these juxtapositions should occur. Moche Fineline Painting, 1999.

For the purposes of this exhibit, we have selected several drawings of images of warfare. Over the centuries, Moche artists painted a variety of subjects, including abstract geometric patterns, animals, supernatural figures, and scenes of ceremony and everyday life. Warfare was a recurring theme, especially in Phases IV and V, the Middle and Late Phases of Moche civilization.

Moche artists frequently depicted warriors and warrior activities, and hundreds of these depictions can be found in museums and private collections today. The combat they depict appears to be ceremonial rather than militaristic. There are no depictions of warriors attacking castles or fortified settlements, or killing, capturing, or mistreating women or children. Moreover, there is no portrayal of equipment or tactics that involved teams of warriors acting in close coordination. We see no regular formations of troops like Greek phalanxes, or siege instruments whose operation would have involved trained squads of individuals. Although there are a few depictions of two warriors fighting a single opponent, the essence of Moche combat appears to have been the expression of individual valor, in which the warriors engage in one-on-one combat. Only rarely were combatants killed; the goal appears to have been to capture the opponent for ritual sacrifice.

The elaborate clothing and ornaments worn by Moche warriors indicate that they were people of high status—almost certainly members of the aristocracy. They must have willingly participated in combat, even though capture and sacrifice of some of the participants would have been the predictable outcome.

Exhibit Items

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Moche Portrait Vessels

Portrait Head Bottle

Figure Bottle

Bottle with portrait head

Moche artist(s)

Bottle, Head

Head Vessel

Stirrup Spout Bottle

Stirrup Spout Bottle with Tattoed Head

Single Spout Portrait Head Bottle

Stirrup Spout Bottle with Portrait Head

Bottle, Crab Demon

Bottle with fox head

Joanne Pillsbury Andrall E. Pearson Curator, Arts of the Ancient Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

September 2021

Portraiture was not common in the Americas prior to the sixteenth century, but there are periods and places where the genre was explored in creative and intriguing ways. Well before the rise of the Inca state in the fifteenth century, potters on Peru’s north coast produced great numbers of ceramic bottles in the shapes of humans, animals, plants, and imaginative combinations of these in the ceramic workshops associated with ritual centers between the Nepeña River in the south and the Piura Valley in the north. Many of these are notable for their descriptive accuracy, though we would not designate them as portraits. For a few centuries in the middle of the first millennium A.D., however, artists of the Moche cultures excelled at the creation of “portrait vessels” ( 64.228.21 ), so-called for their striking apparent resemblance to specific individuals.

These vessels could take the form of a full body ( 64.228.43 ) or simply a head and were shaped into bowls, jars, or, more commonly, bottles. Many of these have a spout in the shape of a stirrup ( 64.228.22 ), a favored form for ritual vessels on the north coast of Peru for about 2,500 years, from at least the beginning of the first millennium B.C. through the early colonial period. It is unclear what these vessels once contained, if anything, although it is commonly assumed that they were used to hold chicha , a type of maize beer.

Moche portrait heads are notable for their sensitive renderings of faces, including fleshy cheeks, furrowed brows, and occasionally scars ( 1976.287.4 ) or blind eyes ( 1978.412.72 ). In some cases, it is possible to recognize what appears to be the same individual represented in different vessels, even at different stages of their lives, from youth to middle age. The close attention to physiognomic detail temptingly hints at living, breathing historical personages—a rare chance to imagine members of a community in a period for which we have no written histories.

In an extensive study of the corpus of some nine hundred known examples of portrait-head vessels, archaeologist Christopher Donnan has shown that their production was limited in time and space. They have been found only in the southern Moche region—south of the Pampa de Paiján, in the Chicama, Moche, and Virú valleys. The earliest examples of the genre ( 1979.206.1111 ; 64.228.24 ), from Phase I (A.D. 100–200) and II (A.D. 200–300), are hand-modeled, rounded forms that were then painted with slip (a suspension of clay colorants in water) and burnished with a smooth stone or other implement before firing. Some simply represent the head, with minimal detailing beyond slip designs indicating face paint; others include a pair of feet or legs below the head.

The most lifelike portrait-head vessels date to the later part of the Moche period, Phases III (A.D. 300–450) and IV (A.D. 450–550). They become suggestive of specific individuals, with careful attention paid to the fleshy folds of the face, the shape of the nose, or the curve of a brow ( 82.1.28 ; 67.167.22 ). These later portrait heads were created with the use of molds, with multiple vessels made from a single mold or matrix. The vessels were then painted with cream and red slip in distinctive ways, delineating headdresses, headbands, and ear ornaments. Other details such as eyebrows and face painting were sometimes applied after firing, most likely with the use of an organic pigment that was then heated.

Nearly all of the portrait vessels depict adult males; a small percentage may represent children. To date, no women have been identified in the corpus of portrait heads, although we occasionally find vessels in the shape of a complete female figure ( 64.228.29 ). The adult male portrait heads often have large, circular ear ornaments and occasionally crescent-shaped nose ornaments ( 1983.546.5 ). Some wear head rings—wreathlike headdresses worn over a plain headcloth and featuring the head and paws of a feline or other animal ( 64.228.25 ). Moche ceramics painted in a style known as fineline often show warriors wearing such head rings ( 67.167.4 ), and they may indicate an affiliation with a specific group, perhaps symbolizing an appropriation of the depicted creature’s power.

From the evidence of use-wear and sherds in trash heaps, it seems likely that Moche portrait vessels were used in life before they were deposited in tombs. Scenes from several fineline vessels suggest that portrait heads were used in ceremonial settings and possibly elite households. All of the portrait vessels found through scientific excavations, however, were recovered from high-status burials, where they were part of larger assemblages with other vessels. As Donnan has noted, there is no evidence to suggest that the portraits represent the entombed individuals, as portraits of men have been found with women, and portraits of the same individual have been found in multiple tombs.

Based on his comprehensive study of the known corpus of portrait heads and related archaeological data, Donnan has argued that they represented prominent individuals who would have been known by members of their community, and that the possession of such a portrait would mark a connection with the individual depicted. Do the portrait heads represent heroic leaders or victorious warriors? Possibly, although seen in another light, the idea of a head as a vessel may be less celebratory than punitive, as colonial accounts of Inca warfare describe the tradition of converting the skulls of enemies into drinking vessels. Furthermore, the formal similarity of the stirrup spout to a rope through a skull—the traditional method by which heads taken in battle were transported—casts a shadow over a heroic reading. Disembodied heads are often depicted in the hands of triumphant warriors and fearsome supernatural figures ( 64.228.60 ). Moreover, as Donnan has noted, in some cases a single individual would be shown at the height of his powers and in full regalia on one vessel, only to be shown as a prisoner, stripped of his trappings and a rope around his neck, on another.

Beyond the immediate histories of specific lives, it is worth remembering that the portrait heads were but one component of larger funerary assemblages—assemblages that were occasionally adjusted over time as descendants or others shifted, removed, or added components. Some scholars have emphasized this final context, suggesting that it is possible to see portrait heads as simulacra of the bodies of venerated ancestors. The anthropologist Mary Weismantel, for example, has suggested that such vessels are literal representations of decapitated heads, deployed as acts of reverence or devotion by kin.

Many aspects of Moche portrait vessels remain unknowable. How are we to understand a fox portrait head ( 63.226.6 ) or a bottle with a carefully rendered face of a warrior and the body of a vegetable ( 1979.206.1114 )? Can these even be considered portraits? Definitive interpretations of these vessels may remain elusive, but this remarkably inventive exploration of the bottle form provides us with an exceptional view of Moche art and ideas and offers stimulating avenues for further consideration of the idea of portraiture across time and place. After all, we must bear in mind that in many portrait traditions, including that of Western Europe, the success of a project is more dependent on imaginative invention than accurate transcription.

Joanne Pillsbury. “Moche Portrait Vessels.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mphv/hd_mphv.htm (September 2021)

Additional Essays by Joanne Pillsbury

Pillsbury, Joanne. “ Architectural Models from the Ancient Americas .” (August 2016)
Pillsbury, Joanne. “ Gold in the Ancient Americas .” (July 2020)

Related Essays

Capac Hucha as an Inca Assemblage
Architectural Models from the Ancient Americas
Birds of the Andes
Dualism in Andean Art
Moche Decorated Ceramics
Music in the Ancient Andes
American Portrait Miniatures of the Nineteenth Century
Arts of the Spanish Americas, 1550–1850
Portraits of African Leadership
Portraiture in Renaissance and Baroque Europe
Roman Portrait Sculpture: Republican through Constantinian
Roman Portrait Sculpture: The Stylistic Cycle

Moche, Geography and Culture of

Living reference work entry
First Online: 26 July 2018
Cite this living reference work entry

Luis Armando Muro Ynoñán 2 , 3

170 Accesses

State of Knowledge and Current Debates

Time and space.

The Moche (also known as “Mochicas”) were a pre-Hispanic society that developed on the desert north coast of Peru between the second and ninth centuries AD. The Moche did not develop a writing system (logographic or syllabic). They created, instead, a highly elaborated artistic record that was used as media to encode and diffuse complex symbolic messages. The refined and standardized Moche art was expressed in a variety of material mediums: murals, textiles, ceramics, and metals (Fig. 1 ), and has been recognized by many as one of the most remarkable art styles of the pre-Columbian Americas.

Gilded-copper Moche crown. It was presumably looted from the royal cemetery of La Mina (Jequetepeque Valley) Currently located in Peru’s Ministry of Culture

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Alva, W. 1988. Discovering the New World’s richest unlooted tomb. National Geographic Society 174 (4): 510–549.

Google Scholar

Alva, W., and C. Donnan. 1993. Royal Tombs of Sipán . Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.

Bawden, G. 1982. Galindo: A study in cultural transition. In Chan Chan: Andean desert city , School of American Research Book, ed. M. Moseley and K. Day, 255–284. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Bawden, G. 1995. The structural paradox: Moche culture as political ideology. Latin American Antiquity 6 (3): 255–273.

Article Google Scholar

Benson, E. 1972. The Mochica, a culture of Peru . New York: Praeger.

Billman, B. 2002. Irrigation and the origins of the Southern Moche state on the North Coast of Peru. Latin American Antiquity 13 (4): 371–400.

Billman, B. 2010. How Moche rulers came to power. Investigating the emergence of the Moche political economy. In New perspectives on Moche political organization , ed. J. Quilter and L.J. Castillo, 181–200. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research and Collection.

Billman, B., and G. Huckleberyy. 2009. Deciphering the politics of prehistoric el Niño events on the North Coast of Peru. In El Niño: Catastrophism, and culture change in ancient America , ed. D. Sandweiss and J. Quilter. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

Bird, J. 1948. America’s oldest farmers . Washington, DC: Natural History Press.

Bourget, S. 2001. Rituals of sacrifice: Its practice at Huaca de la Luna and its representation in Moche iconography. In Moche art and archaeology in ancient Peru , ed. J. Pillsbury, 89–109. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art.

Bourget, S. 2006. Sex, death, and sacrifice in Moche religion and visual culture . Austin: University of Texas Press.

Bourget, S. 2008. The third man: Identity and rulership in Moche archaeology and visual culture. In The art and archaeology of the Moche: An ancient Andean society of the Peruvian North Coast , ed. S. Bourget and K.L. Jones, 263–288. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Canziani, J. 2003. Estado y Ciudad: Revisión de la Teoría sobre la Sociedad Moche. In Moche: Hacia el Final del Milenio: Actas del Segundo Coloquio sobre la Cultura Moche , ed. S. Uceda and E. Mujica, 287–311. Lima: Fondo Editorial, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Castillo, L.J. 2000a. The sacrifice ceremony, battles and death in Mochica art. In La Ceremonia del Sacrificio, Batallas y Muerte en el Arte Mochica . Lima: Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera.

Castillo, L.J. 2000b. La Presencia Wari en San José de Moro. In Huari y Tiwanaku: Modelos vs. Evidencias, Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 4 , ed. P. Kaulicke and W.H. Isbell, 143–179. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Castillo, L.J. 2001. The last of the Mochicas: A view from the Jequetepeque valley. In Moche art and archaeology in ancient Peru , Studies in the history of art 63. Symposium papers XL, ed. J. Pillsbury, 307–332. Washington, DC: Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art.

Castillo, L.J. 2010. Moche politics in the Jequetepeque Valley: A case for political opportunism. In New perspectives on Moche political organization , ed. J. Quilter and L.J. Castillo, 83–109. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research and Collection.

Castillo, L.J., and C. Donnan. 1994. Los Mochicas del Norte y los Mochicas del Sur, Una Perspectiva desde el Valle de Jequetepeque. In Vicús , ed. K. Makowski, 143–181. Lima: Colección Arte y Tesoros del Perú. Banco de Crédito del Perú.

Castillo, L.J., and J. Quilter. 2010. Many Moche models. An overview of past and current theories and research on Moche political organization. In New perspectives on Moche political organization , ed. J. Quilter and L.J. Castillo, 1–16. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research and Collection.

Castillo, L.J., and C.E. Rengifo. 2008. El Género y el Poder: San José de Moro. In Señores de los Reinos de la Luna , ed. K. Makowski, 165–181. Lima: Banco de Crédito del Perú.

Castillo, L.J., and S. Uceda. 2008. The Mochicas. In Handbook of South American archaeology , ed. H. Silverman and W.H. Isbell, 707–729. New York: Springer.

Castillo, L.J., F. Fernandini, and L.A. Muro. 2012. The multidimensional relations between the Wari and the Moche states of Northern Peru. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 16: 53–77.

Chapdelaine, C. 2003. La Ciudad de Moche: Urbanismo y Estado. In Moche: Hacia el Final del Milenio: Actas del Segundo Coloquio sobre la Cultura Moche , ed. S. Uceda and E. Mujica, 247–285. Lima: Fondo Editorial, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Chapdelaine, C. 2011. Recent advances in Moche archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Research 19: 191–231.

DeMarais, E., L.J. Castillo, and T. Earle. 1996. Ideology, materialization and power strategies. Current Anthropology 37 (1): 15–31.

Dillehay, T. 2001. Town and country in late Moche times: A view from two Northern valleys. In Moche art and archaeology in ancient Peru , Studies in the history of art 63. Symposium papers XL, ed. J. Pillsbury, 259–283. Washington, DC: Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art.

Donnan, C. 1975. The thematic approach to Moche iconography. Journal of Latin American 1 (2): 147–162.

Donnan, C. 1976. Moche art and iconography . 1st ed. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.

Donnan, C. 2007. Moche Tombs at Dos Cabezas . Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Donnan, C. 2010. Moche state religion: A unifying force in Moche political organization. In New perspectives on Moche political organization , ed. J. Quilter and L.J. Castillo, 47–69. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research and Collection.

Donnan, C., and L.J. Castillo. 1992. Finding the tomb of a Moche priestess. Archaeology 6 (45): 38–42.

Donnan, C., and D. McClelland. 1979. The burial theme in Moche iconography , Studies in Pre-Columbian art & archaeology. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University, Library of Congress, 21th.

Hill, E. 2005. The body intact, the body in pieces: Foucault and the Moche prisoner. In Art for Archaeology’s sake. Material culture and style across the disciplines. Proceedings of the thirty-third annual conference of the archaeological Association of the University of Calgary , ed. A. Waters-Rist, C. Cluney, C. McNamee, and L. Steinbrenner, 124–131. Calgary: The University of Calgary Archaeological Association.

Hocquenghem, A.M. 1987. Iconografía Mochica . Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Kaulicke, P. 1992. Moche, Vicús-Moche y el Mochica Temprano. Boletín del Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos 21 (3): 853–903.

Kaulicke, P. 2000. Memoria y Muerte en el Perú Antiguo . 1st ed. Lima: Pontificia Universidad del Perú. Fondo Editorial.

Koons, M., and B. Alex. 2014. Revised Moche chronology based on Bayesian models of reliable radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 56 (3): 1039–1055.

Larco, R. 1945. Los Mochicas (Pre-Chimu de Uhle y Early Chimu de Kroeber) . Buenos Aires: Sociedad Geográfica Americana.

Larco, R. 1948. Cronología Arqueológica del Norte del Perú , Biblioteca del Museo de Arqueología Rafael Larco Herrera, Hacienda Chiclín. Buenos Aires: Sociedad Geográfica Americana. [Reimpreso en: Arqueológicas 25. Lima, 2001].

Narváez, A. 1994 La Mina: Una Tumba Moche I en el Valle de Jequetepeque. In Moche, Propuestas y Perspectivas. Travaux de l’Institute Français d’Etudes Andines , Vol 70, ed. S. Uceda, and E. Mujica, 59–92. Trujillo: Universidad Nacional de Trujillo.

Makowski, K. 1994. Los Señores de Loma Negra. In Vicús , ed. K. Makowski, 135–141. Lima: Colección Arte y Tesoros del Perú, Banco de Crédito del Perú.

Makowski, K. 2004. Hacia la Reconstrucción del Panteón Moche: Tipos, Personalidades Iconográficas, Narraciones. In El Mundo Sobrenatural Mochica: Imágenes Escultóricas de las Deidades Antropomorfas en el Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera , ed. M. Giersz, K. Makowski, and P. Przadka, 17–128. Lima: Fondo Editorial, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Moseley, M. 1975. The maritime foundation of Andean civilization . Menlo Park: Cummings.

Moseley, M. 1992. The Incas and their ancestors: The archaeology of Peru . London: Thames and Hudson.

Mujica, E., ed. 2007. El Brujo, Huaca Cao: Centro Ceremonial Moche en el Calle de Chicama . Lima: Fundacion Wiese.

Muro, L.A., R. Verdún, and S. Ghavami. 2016. Excavaciones En La Fachada Este de Huaca La Capilla – San José De Moro: Unidades Integradas 51, 52, 53, 54, 58, 59, 60 y 62. In Programa Arqueológico San José de Moro. Field Report 2015 , ed. L.A. Muro, 177–254. Lima: Pontifica Universidad Catolica del Peru. Field Report Submitted to the Ministry of Culture of Peru.

Quilter, J. 1997. The narrative approach to Moche iconography. Latin American Antiquity 8 (2): 113–133.

Quilter, J. 2002. Moche politics, religion and warfare. Journal of World Prehistory 16 (2): 145–195.

Quilter, J., and M. Koons. 2012. The fall of the Moche: A critique of claims for South America’s first state. Latin American Antiquity 23 (2): 127–143.

Sandweiss, D. H., K. A. Maasch, F. T. Andrus, E. J. Reitz, M. Reidinger-Whitmore, J. Richardson III, and H. B. Rollins. 2007. Mid-Holocene Climate and Culture Change in Coastal Peru. In Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics: A Global Perspective on Mid-Holocene Transitions ., ed. D. G. Anderson, K. A. Masssch, and D. H. Sandweiss, first edit, 25–50. First Edit. London: Academic Press.

Shimada, I. 1994. Pampa Grande and the Moche culture . Austin: University of Texas Press.

Shimada, I., C.B. Schaaf, L.G. Thompson, and E. Mosley-Thompson. 1991. Cultural impacts of severe droughts in the prehistoric Andes: Application of a 1,500-year ice core precipitation record. World Archaeology 22 (3): 247–270.

Strong, W.D. 1947. Finding the tomb of a warrior-god. National Geographic Magazine 91 (4): 453–482.

Sutter, R.C., and R.J. Cortez. 2005. The nature of Moche human sacrifice, a bio-archaeological perspective. Current Anthropology 46: 521–549.

Swenson, E.R. 2008. San Ildefonso and the “Popularization” of “Moche Ideology in the Jquetepeque Valley”. In Arqueologia Mochica, Nuevos Enfoques , ed. L.J. Castillo, H. Bernier, J. Rucabado, and G. Lockar, 411–432. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Swenson, E.R. 2011. Stagecraft and the politics of spectacle in ancient Peru. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21 (02): 283–313.

Uceda, S. 2000. El Templo Mochica: Rituales y Ceremonias. In Los Dioses del Antiguo Perú , ed. K. Makowski, 91–101. Lima: Colección Arte y Tesoros del Perú. Banco de Crédito del Perú.

Uceda, S. 2008. En Búsqueda de los Palacios de los Reyes de Moche. In Señores de los Reinos de la Luna , ed. K. Makowski, 111–127. Lima: Banco de Crédito del Perú.

Uceda, S. 2010. Theocracy and secularism: Relationships between the temple and urban nucleus and political change at the Huacas de Moche. In New perspectives on Moche political organization , ed. J. Quilter and L.J. Castillo, 132–158. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research and Collection.

Verano, J.W. 2001. War and death in the Moche world: Osteological evidence and visual discourse. In Moche art and archaeology in ancient Peru , ed. J. Pillsbury, 111–125. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art.

Verano, J.W. 2008. Communality and diversity in Moche human sacrifice. In The art and archaeology of the Moche: An ancient Andean Society of the Peruvian North Coast , ed. S. Bourget and K.L. Jones, 195–213. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Willey, G. 1953. Prehistoric settlement patterns in the Viru Valley, Peru . Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 155.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Luis Armando Muro Ynoñán

Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luis Armando Muro Ynoñán .

Section Editor information

Service of Prehistory, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

Marcel Otte

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this entry

Cite this entry.

Ynoñán, L.A.M. (2018). Moche, Geography and Culture of. In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_2577-1

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_2577-1

Received : 01 September 2016

Accepted : 20 June 2018

Published : 26 July 2018

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-319-51726-1

Online ISBN : 978-3-319-51726-1

eBook Packages : Springer Reference History Reference Module Humanities and Social Sciences Reference Module Humanities

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Find a journal
Track your research

Cast & crew

The Presentation Theme

Simplistic drawings portray the myths and rituals of the ancient Moche civilization as interpreted by the filmmaker from the artwork on Moche pottery Simplistic drawings portray the myths and rituals of the ancient Moche civilization as interpreted by the filmmaker from the artwork on Moche pottery Simplistic drawings portray the myths and rituals of the ancient Moche civilization as interpreted by the filmmaker from the artwork on Moche pottery

Jim Trainor
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews

2008 (United States)
United States
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$100 (estimated)

Technical specs

Runtime 14 minutes
Black and White

More to explore

COMMENTS

Narrative Themes
The Presentation Theme, also referred to as the Sacrifice Ceremony, occurs on multiple vessels and even metal and stone objects in both fineline painting and relief, and in both abridged and extended formats. Four central figures are featured and are designated in scholarship as Figures A, B, C, and D. Figure A is known as the "Rayed Deity ...
Presentation Theme
MOCHE ICONOGRAPHY. back to the Moche Iconography home page Brian Billman ANTH | UNC | CH | USA. PRESENTATION THEME. The above drawing ( Donnan 1978:160 shows the presentation theme as depicted on the Moche stirrup spout bottle pictured at left ( Donnan 1979:159 ). Click here for a closeup view of the presentation theme (167 KB).
MOCHE ICONOGRAPHY
Figure D | back to the presentation theme page Figure D and Figure U from a fineline drawing ( back to whole image ) of the presentation theme ( Donnan 1978:160-161 ). Click here for a closeup view of the presentation theme (167 KB).
Moche
Initially dubbed the Presentation Theme, but now known as the Sacrifice Ceremony, this imagery is also seen on ceramics (see §(ii)(a) below). The site was studied anew in the 21st century, revealing new murals and much new information about the sacred practices behind the creation and use of the murals. ... The Burial Theme in Moche ...
MOCHE ICONOGRAPHY
Figure W | back to the presentation theme page Figure W from a fineline drawing ( back to whole image ) of the presentation theme ( Donnan 1978:160-161 ). Click here for a closeup view of the presentation theme (167 KB).
The Moche Civilization of Ancient Peru: Artisans, Warriors and Priests
The ancient Moche civilisation in where we now call Peru was a confederation of small states in the ancient Andes. ... Warfare and the capture of prisoners for sacrifice was a central theme. A famous Moche artistic motif known as the Presentation Theme shows goblet-bearing female figures and armed male warriors flanking a central priestess or ...
Perhaps the most reproduced and discussed Moche ceramic ...
Perhaps the most reproduced and discussed Moche ceramic painting. On a stirrup spout vessel at the Museum f ur ̈ V olkerkunde, ̈ Munich. Originally called the Presentation Theme, it is now known ...
Moche Decorated Ceramics
For example, deer and seal hunts (1978.412.69), sacrifice ceremonies, warriors in battle or moving in processions , and messengers running in line are common themes in Moche ceramic art. Scholars do not agree about the various functions of Moche decorated ceramics.
Moche Art
The book that influenced a generation of Moche scholarship, this well-organized, easy-to-read publication clearly articulates Donnan's "Thematic Approach" to understanding Moche art. What later became the most famous of Moche images, the Presentation Theme, is described in detail here. Hocquenghem, Anne Marie. Iconografica Mochica. Lima ...
(PDF) The Artistry of Moche Mural Painting and the Ephemerality of
These include the Moche "Presentation Theme," or "Sacrifice Ceremony," led by a goblet-bearing priestess (Figures 9.11 and 9.12); images of dancing and processing warriors; and scenes of battles between the Moche hero or deity called Ai Apaec (elsewhere "Wrinkle Face") and a series of mythical foes (Figure 9.13).7 The imagery of the ...
Moche Flashcards
Tomb 1: Lord of Sipan. o The Lord of Sipan was a real person. o In this tomb there is a crown, a tumi knive (sacrificial knive for cutting necks, also worn on the back, called back device), a scepter, among other things. These artifacts are depicted in the scenes of Moche art, especially in the presentation theme.
Moche Iconography
Moche Iconography. Español. The Moche culture (200-900 CE) is recognized as one of the first complex societies of the desert North Coast of Peru. The Moche created monumental ritual temples, expansive irrigation systems, and a prolific art tradition that found expression in various media, including painted and molded ceramic vessels.
The Burial Theme in Moche Iconography
The six examples of the Burial Theme are among the most complex representations ever produced by Moche artists. Analysis of these representations provides a number of important insights into the nature of Moche iconography, the development of Moche artistic canons, and various aspects of Moche ritual.
Presentation Theme Closeup
© UNC Research Laboratories of Archaeology CH | NC | USA Moche Iconography | Presentation Theme Closeup last modified | 12 March 1999 maintained by | Brian ...
Time and Space-Time in Moche Fineline Painting (MA Dissertation)
Therefore how firmly characters hold the goblet is not a precise enough indicator of the direction of this transitive action.28 This ambiguity requires closer scholarly scrutiny and, given the degree to which the Presentation Theme informs understandings of Moche politico-religious relations (Chapter 3), should not simply be assumed.
Moche Depictions of Warfare
Warfare was a recurring theme, especially in Phases IV and V, the Middle and Late Phases of Moche civilization. Moche artists frequently depicted warriors and warrior activities, and hundreds of these depictions can be found in museums and private collections today. The combat they depict appears to be ceremonial rather than militaristic.
1. Fineline ceramic painting of the Moche Presentation Theme or
Fineline ceramic painting of the Moche Presentation Theme or Sacrifice Ceremony. (Adapted from Alva and Donnan 1993: fig. 143.) from publication: Violence and Civilization Oxbow Books Violence and ...
The Moche Flashcards
Moche Presentation scene. •elite sits in a structure atop a pyramid. •presentation of a goblet to an elite individual. Sacrifice Ceremony. •Donnan believes these individuals are part of this larger scene. •central figure with a dog and weapons. •warrior slicing throats of captives. • cup of blood brought to an elite individual ...
Moche Portrait Vessels
For a few centuries in the middle of the first millennium A.D., however, artists of the Moche cultures excelled at the creation of "portrait vessels" (64.228.21), so-called for their striking apparent resemblance to specific individuals. These vessels could take the form of a full body (64.228.43) or simply a head and were shaped into bowls ...
Moche, Geography and Culture of
The "narrative approach" of Moche iconography, which opposes yet at the same time complements the previous approach, considers the themes to be, in reality, segments of a larger narrative upon which the Moche myths can be revealed (Hocquenghem 1987; Makowski 2004; Quilter 1997) (Fig. 5).These myths were the basis of the greater part of Moche art (Quilter 1997: 121).
The Presentation Theme (Short 2008)
The Presentation Theme: Directed by Jim Trainor. With Jim Trainor. Simplistic drawings portray the myths and rituals of the ancient Moche civilization as interpreted by the filmmaker from the artwork on Moche pottery
Moche vase depicting "the presentation", a ceremonial scene ...
Moche vase depicting "the presentation", a ceremonial scene presented in vessels, reliefs and all sort of objects. Several of the characters featured were found in tombs in northern Peru. Ca. ... The Presentation Theme, therefore, has played a crucial role in scholarship to link iconographic representation and practice in ancient Moche society" ...

Article contents

Updated in this version

1. Introduction.

Bibliography

2. Art and architecture.

(i) Monumental Architecture.

(a) Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna.

(b) El Brujo Archaeological Complex.

(c) Huaca Dos Cabezas.

(d) Huaca Fortaleza.

(e) Pañamarca.

(ii) Pottery, metal, and other arts.

(a) Pottery.

(b) Metals.

External Resources

External resources

The Moche Civilization of Ancient Peru: Artisans, Warriors and Priests of the Northern Coast

Introduction

Geography and Timeline

Key Archaeological Sites and Discoveries

Material Culture and Iconography

Subsistence, Technology and Urban Life

Society and Politics

Religion and Ritual

The End of the Moche World

Related posts:

Art History

How to Subscribe

In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Moche Art

Related Articles Expand or collapse the "related articles" section about

Other Subject Areas

Moche Art by Margaret A. Jackson LAST REVIEWED: 11 January 2018 LAST MODIFIED: 11 January 2018 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199920105-0120

Time and Space-Time in Moche Fineline Painting (MA Dissertation)

Related Papers

RELATED PAPERS

RELATED TOPICS

Navigation Breadcrumbs

Moche Depictions of Warfare

Exhibit Items

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Portrait Head Bottle

Figure Bottle

Bottle with portrait head

Bottle, Head

Head Vessel

Stirrup Spout Bottle

Stirrup Spout Bottle with Tattoed Head

Single Spout Portrait Head Bottle

Stirrup Spout Bottle with Portrait Head

Bottle, Crab Demon

Bottle with fox head

Further Reading

Additional Essays by Joanne Pillsbury

Related Essays

Moche, Geography and Culture of

State of Knowledge and Current Debates

Access this chapter

Further Reading

Author information

Corresponding author

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Copyright information

About this entry

Download citation

The Presentation Theme

User reviews

Technical specs

Related news

More to explore

COMMENTS