A RC H A I C S TAT E O F C OA S TA L P E R U

MOCHE

ARCHAEOLOGY

• Capital at Cero Blanco• Pyramid Huaca del Sol; Adobe structure• Most of city and pyramid platform destroyed by

hydraulic mining activities of Spanish to look for burial treasures.• Archaeological deposits of Moche occupation

reach depths of 7 meters

Huaca del la Luna, polychrome murals

• Nearby are remnant agricultural fields reflecting corporate management: regular and standardized field plots of uniform size.• Agricultural plots were likely worked by a peasant

class.• What is known about Moche life and death comes

artifacts recovered from burials that have escaped looting.

• Burials usually contain textiles and ceramics.• On occasion sacrificed llamas were interred with

deceased.

FORTRESSES

• Moche fortress at Casma Valley underscores militaristic character of Moche society. Many hilltop fortresses.• Construction techniques include stone and mass

produced adobe

Moche hilltop fortress

ICONOGRAPHY

• Highly symbolic, and standardized.• Artistic motifs reify the hierarchical order of

society.• Multiple media (survives mainly in ceramics).• Evolution of artistic styles reduces to two dozen

themes by AD 300—these focus on religious ideology.

Tule boats

Weaving

War in 3D pottery

War and sacrifice from painted pottery

IDEOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS

• Most meanings are lost to us today but some are recognizable:• Origin myths, conflicts between good and evil,

explanations for natural phenomena, burial rites and protocols, and most especially one- on-one combat.• The combat scenes depicted on pottery reveal

both ritual and cosmology.

COMBINED ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA REVEAL:

• Stratified society: Kurka (ruling) class and commoner/peasant class• Ritualized behavior of ruling class elites/nobility.• Blood sacrifice rituals were uncommon but

powerful expressions for maintaining natures’ productivity.

• Moche political centralization suggests control over large region but administration was uneven and may represent indirect rule along the coast. • Moche mariners colonized several islands and

contacted cultures along the coast.• Artistic motifs of Moche origin influence Nazca

peoples to the south around AD 600.