ARH 390Moche Iconography

A short history

Burial Ritual - Curing Practices ?

A King - a Priest – an Ancestor – a God ?

PERIOD 1930 – 1960

• Rafael Larco Hoyle

VIII

I/II

IV

Larco 1948

250 - 450 AD 400 - 700 AD 700 - 800 AD

? AD

Larco Museum Pueblo Libre

PERIOD 1930 – 1960

• Rafael Larco Hoyle - 1938, 1939, 1945, 1966

• Arturo Jimenez Borja - 1938;

• Gerdt Kutscher - 1948, 1951, 1954, 1956

• J. C. Muelle - 1933, 1936

• E. Yacovleff and F. Herrera - 1932, 1934, 1935

… many of the unusual features of the Chavin de Huantar temple becomes more intelligible if we accept the proposition that fear and awe of the supernatural, combined with social sanctions based on religious ideology, produced a degree of coercion later achieved by institutionalized force. (Richard Burger)

The main reason for the diversity in interpretations of Moche iconography is probably because the viewer does not feel alienated by the style of the images.

Not in Moche Iconography

• Agriculture

• Domestic activities

• Irrigation work

• Craft activities

PERIOD post - 1960

• Gerdt Kutscher – 1958, 1983– First to introduce a method of systematic

analysis to Moche iconography – Need to consider each scene as being part of a

unified and structured corpus

Badminton

PERIOD post - 1960

• Gerdt Kutscher – 1958, 1983

• Danièlle Lavallée – 1970– Identification of animals and composite

subjects

Lavallée

• Three Functions– 1 – Accompany the dead – 2 – Protect the deceased– 3 – Surround the deceased with familiar

representations of their living world

• Two Levels– Natural depictions associated to the physical

world– Non-realist scenes, propitiatory in nature

PERIOD post - 1960

• Gerdt Kutscher – 1958, 1983

• Danièlle Lavallée – 1970

• Elisabeth Benson – 1972 1997– Create ensembles called complexes – Insist on the symbolic nature

1972 The Mochica: A Culture of Peru

1974 A Man and a Feline in Mochica Art

1975 Death-Associated Figures on Mochica Pottery

1984 The Men Who Have Bags in Their Mouths

1985 The Moche Moon

1988 New World Deer-Hunt Rituals

1989 Women in Mochica Art

1991 The Chtonic Canine

1991 Seven Human Figurines

1995 Art, Agriculture, Warfare and the Guano Islands

1997 Moche Art: Myth, History and Rite

2003 Cambios de Temas y Motivos en la Ceramica Moche

1979 Garments as Symbolic Language in Mochica Art

1984 A Moche Spatula

n.d. Iconography Meets Archaeology

1982 The Well-dressed Captives..

1974 Salesmen and Sleeping Warriors in Mochica Art

1978 The Bag with the Ruffled Top..

1982 The Man with the V on his Headdress..

1987 Bats in South American Iconography

1992 The World of Moche

PERIOD post - 1960

• Gerdt Kutscher – 1958, 1983 • Danièlle Lavallée – 1970• Elisabeth Benson – 1972 1997• Yuri E. Berezkin – 1980

– Attempt to create an hierarchy of composite figure based on their frequency in the icono.

– Mention the need to use other documents such as ethnohistoric information

PERIOD post - 1960

• Gerdt Kutscher – 1958, 1983

• Danièlle Lavallée – 1970

• Elisabeth Benson – 1972 1997

• Yuri E. Berezkin – 1980

• Anne-Marie Hocquenghem – 1977 1987– Structuralist approach– Use of Panofsky methodology

HOCQUENGHEM’S 19 THEMES

• 1- the throwing of flowers in the air• 2- the sexual union between a woman and a mythical being• 3- the punishment of women and man in relation to death rituals• 4- the craft production• 5- the hunt of deer and other animals associated with death• 6- the dance of the dead and their association with flies• 7- the running scenes• 8- the offering and the consumption of coca leaves• 9- the scenes of combat and the capture of prisoners• 10- the dances of warriors holding a special rope• 11- the sacrifice• 12- the carrying of sacrificial victims to the guano islands• 13- the preparation of the corpses on the guano islands and the ritual hunt of sea lions• 14- the entrance of the corpses in the world of the dead and its relations with acts of anal

copulation and masturbation (association also with dance with death and deer)• 15- the revolt of the objects• 16- the scene of games• 17- the presentation of cultivated plants and the dances with masks• 18- the passage on a rope bridge• 19- the feast scenes

We interpret Moche iconography with the help of ethnohistoric and ethnographic information on the myths and

rituals from the Inca and post-Inca periods contained in written documents and that cover the Andes, the Pacific

coast and the Amazonian basin. Despite differences in time and space, or in the ecological conditions of these diverse

regions, this method appears to be valid because these diverse cultural areas have always been in regular contact. It is also in the measure that these regions are also constrained

with the same ecological system of alternating dry and humid seasons.

Structuralist vs. Structural Statements

• 1- The diverse representations are not independent from one another

• 2- Each of these scenes are part of a wider context and could be related to more complex scenes.

• 3- These complex representations are in a limited number and have been reproduced a great number of times, in part or in details and in many different artistic forms.

• 4- The internal structure of the iconography is such that a similar logic must account for the totality of the representations and the diverse relation between each of them.

• 5- In consequence the task of the investigator is to attempt to reconstruct the meaning of each of these complex scenes in their totality and in all their details.

PERIOD post - 1960

• Gerdt Kutscher – 1958, 1983

• Danièlle Lavallée – 1970

• Elisabeth Benson – 1972 1997

• Yuri E. Berezkin – 1980

• Anne-Marie Hocquenghem – 1977 1987

• Christopher B. Donnan – 1975 1999

Donnan’s Iconographical Canons:

• scale of the representation and subjects

• relative size in between the same actors in a given scene

• perspective

• depth of field

• pose and action

• sex differentiation

• status

• dignity

• identification of species

Presentation ThemeSacrifice Ceremony

Blood Ceremony

Presentation Theme or Sacrifice Ceremony

El Tuno, E. Calderon

Huaca del SolBadminton Player

Donnan 1985

Individual AAlva and Donnan 1993

Tomb 1 - Sipán

A

B

Individual BAlva and Donnan 1993

Tomb 2 - Sipán

Individual DBourget 2003

Tomb 3 - Sipán

D

C

Individual CDonnan and Castillo 1994

San José de Moro

PERIOD post - 1960

• Gerdt Kutscher – 1958, 1983

• Danièlle Lavallée – 1970

• Elisabeth Benson – 1972 1997

• Yuri E. Berezkin – 1980

• Anne-Marie Hocquenghem – 1977 1987

• Christopher B. Donnan – 1975 1999

• Daniel Arsenault 1994

• Luis Jaime Castillo 1992