Companions or Counterparts: Considering the Role of Animal Depictions in Moche Ceramics from Northern Peru

Summary

The Moche Period (1-850AD) is well known for its iconography with naturalistic depictions of a variety of different figures and themes. One aspect of the corpus that has been under-analyzed is the common representation of plant and animal life. The ceramic assemblages of the Moche depict numerous animal species from coastal, highland and Amazonian locations. Recent work conducted at the Larco Herrera Museum reveals that various animal species may have been considered important symbols of group association and community identity. The patterns that can be ascertained from the vessels that have been analyzed reveal that dog and sea lions may have been key species used to aid in ritual and ceremonial practices. Furthermore, the representation of anthropomorphic figures with animal features suggests that Moche elites personified specific species as a means to heighten the effect and meaning of established ritual performances. This paper will also explore how animal imagery in Moche ceramics may have been expressive of totemistic and animistic ontologies. It will be argued humans and animals were not absolute categories in Moche worldviews and that the boundary separating humans from non-human entities often appears to have been blurred.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage