ruvian collectors or was illegally exported 

 for sale in Europe, Japan, and the United 

 States. 



Building on civilizations that preceded 

 them in coastal Peru, the Moche devel- 

 oped their own elaborate society, based on 

 the cultivation of such crops as com and 

 beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, 

 and the exploitation of other wild and do- 

 mestic resources. They had a dense, so- 

 cially stratified population, with large 

 numbers of workers devoted to the con- 

 struction and maintenance of irrigation 

 canals, pyramids, palaces, and temples. 

 Their lords apparently received food and 

 commodities from their subjects and dis- 

 tributed them to lesser nobles and to the 

 potters, weavers, metalworkers, and other 

 artisans who created luxury objects for the 

 elite. In sculptures, decorated ceramics, 

 and murals, archeologists have glimpsed 

 many complex scenes of Moche life, in- 

 cluding hunting, combat, and ceremonial 

 practices. 



The luxury items from Sipan that were 

 confiscated by the police, including hollow 

 gold beads of various shapes and sizes, 

 hinted at the magnificence of the plun- 

 dered burial, which must have belonged to 

 one of the Moche elite. More fortune- 

 hunters descended on the site in search of 

 overlooked valuables. They hacked at the 

 tomb walls and sifted through the exca- 

 vated dirt. By the time the police secured 

 the area, little was left except a boot- 

 shaped hole. Nevertheless, with armed 

 guards stationed around the clock, we 

 hastily organized an archeological survey 

 to learn everything possible of scientific 

 value (author Walter Alva directed the 

 project; coauthor Chistopher B. Donnan 

 was one of the many participants). 



We began by making a contour map of 

 the three pyramids and what remained of 

 their ramps and adjacent plazas. The small 

 pyramid, where the tomb had been found, 

 was riddled with looters' tunnels, but in 

 some places, the piles of dirt they had ex- 

 cavated helped preserve the original con- 

 tours. The tunnels also enabled us to ex- 

 amine the internal construction. The 

 pyramid and the rest of the complex evi- 



The Moche of 

 Coastal Peru 



A Archeological site 



100 Miles 



I ■ I 



dently had been built and rebuilt over a 

 long period of time, undergoing many 

 changes as the various parts were en- 

 larged. The small pyramid seems to have 

 gone through six phases, beginning in the 

 first century a.d. and ending about 300. 



Although the burial chamber had been 

 gouged out of shape, we were able to de- 

 termine that it had originally been roofed 

 with large wood beams, which had de- 

 composed. To our great surprise, we were 

 able to uncover some of the tomb's con- 

 tents that had been missed by the original 

 looters and the subsequent gleaners. 

 Clearing along one side of the chamber, 

 we found the remains of a large, gilded 

 copper crown decorated with metal disks; 

 four ceramic jars modeled in the shape of 

 human figures; and a copper mask with in- 

 laid turquoise eyes. In excavating these, 

 we also discovered a heavy copper scepter 



forty inches long, pointed at one end and 

 bearing a three-dimensional architectural 

 model on the other. The model depicted a 

 platform with a balustrade, surrounding an 

 open-front building with one back wall 

 and a peaked roof supported by posts. 

 Seventeen double-faced human heads 

 decorated the roof ridge, while depicted in 

 relief on the wall was a supernatural crea- 

 ture, half feline and half reptile, copulating 

 with a woman on a crescent moon. 



Knowing that the pyramid would be 

 further plundered once we left, we decided 

 to open up a new section to methodical ex- 

 cavation, choosing a ten-by-ten-meter 

 (1,076-square-foot) area near the summit. 

 Here we came upon a place where the 

 mud brick had been carved out and refilled 

 in ancient times. Digging down, we found 

 eight decomposed wood beams, similar to 

 those that had roofed the looted burial 



28 Natural History 5/94 



