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Moche [archive]

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Moche

Location: Coastal Peru

History: The Moche people possessed knowledge of ceramics, textiles and metalworking. Their architectural skills allowed the construction of pyramids and other structures. They also had art, organized religion, politics and a societal class system. The first Moche lived in a high-density peasant population surrounding a central worship site such as a massive pyramid.

Language: No recorded written language

Daily Life: Today's Moche are farmers and are also beginning to participate in the local cash economy. They have retained many sixteenth century Spanish features such as witchcraft, ritual and household practices. Due to contact with urban society, the aboriginal features of the Moche have almost entirely disappeared.

Best Known Features: The Moche are especially known for their ceramics, considered the most artistically sensitive and technically developed of any found in Peru. The pots are so realistically decorated with figures and scenes that they give us a very descriptive look at Moche life.

Sources

Steward, Julian Haynes and Louis C. Faron. Native Peoples of South America. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.: New York 1959.

Bourget, Steve. Sex, Death, and Sacrifice in Moche Religion and Visual Culture. University of Texas Press, 2006.

Royal Tombs of The Lord of Sipan, electronic document: http://www.delange.org/LordSipanGold/LordSipanGold.htm, accessed June 2009.

Additional Reading

Moche Civilization
History of Peru
South American Indians

Moche [archive]

Moche

Sources

Additional Reading

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