Between the first and eighth centuries 

 A.D., the Moche occupied a series of 

 river valleys, map left, along the 

 otherwise arid coast of northern Peru. 

 At Sipdn. below, the Moche built three 

 mud-brick pyramids, now much 

 eroded. Excavations continue at the 

 smallest of these (foreground), which 

 concealed at least four royal tombs. 



Bill Ballenberg 



chamber. Buried beneath these, in the de- 

 bris of what had been a small rectagular 

 chamber, we found 1,137 ceramic bowls, 

 jars, and bottles. They portrayed a variety 

 of human figures: warriors holding war 

 clubs and shields, nude prisoners with 

 leashlike ropes around their necks, musi- 

 cians with drums, and seated figures wear- 

 ing beaded pectorals (biblike coverings). 

 Some were arranged in symbolic tableaux, 

 for example, musicians and prisoners ring- 

 ing and facing noble personages. 



As we removed the ceramics, we found 

 several pieces of copper and, finally, a 

 man's skeleton lying jackknifed on its 

 back, with chin, knees, and arms pulled in 

 toward the torso. Since the Moche custom- 

 arily buried their dead in a fully extended 

 position, we interpreted this individual to 

 be a sacrificial victim, whose body had 

 been shoved into the small chamber as 

 part of the ritual offering. 



Even as these offerings were being ex- 

 cavated, we discovered a second, larger 

 rectangular area that appeared to have 

 been carved into the pyramid and refilled. 

 As we carefully excavated this, we found, 

 about thirteen feet below the original sur- 

 face of the pyramid, the skeleton of a man 

 wrapped in a cotton shroud. He lay 



stretched out on his back and wore a 

 gilded copper helmet. Over his right fore- 

 arm, which rested on his chest, was a 

 round copper shield. A little below we 

 found the remains of seventeen parallel 

 beams that, we dared hope, lay over a 

 major, undisturbed burial chamber. 



The discoveries that subsequently 

 emerged surpassed our dreams. Buried in 

 the chamber were the remains of a wood 

 coffin that contained the richest grave of- 

 ferings ever to be excavated scientifically 

 in the Western Hemisphere. The body of a 

 man between thirty-five and forty-five 

 years of age had been laid to rest with a 

 feathered headdress, banners of cloth with 

 gilded copper decorations, beaded pec- 

 torals, nose ornaments and necklaces of 

 gold and silver, ear ornaments of gold and 

 turquoise, face coverings of gold, a gold 

 backflap and a silver backflap that would 

 have been hung from the belt, and count- 

 less other precious objects. In his right 

 hand the deceased had held a gold and sil- 

 ver scepter topped with a large rattle, and 

 in his left hand, a smaller scepter of cast 

 silver. In relief on the rattle, which was 

 shaped like an inverted pyramid, were 

 scenes of an elaborately dressed warrior 

 subjugating a vanquished opponent. The 



sculpted head of the smaller scepter 

 echoed this theme. 



Working six days a week, it took us four 

 months to document and safely empty the 

 delicate contents of the tomb. As our orig- 

 inal budget became exhausted, we re- 

 ceived some partial funding from a brew- 

 ery and a truckload of noodles donated by 

 a pasta manufacturer. At one point we 

 were paying the fieldworkers with a com- 

 bination of cash and noodles. We eventu- 

 ally secured new support from the Re- 

 search Committee of the National 

 Geographic Society and were able to pro- 

 ceed with further excavation. 



All the while we had been working and 

 moving equipment around the coffin bur- 

 ial, we had been walking only inches 

 above hundreds of ceramic vessels, two 

 sacrificed llamas, a dog, and the burials of 

 two men, three women, and a child of nine 

 or ten. Although we do not know this for 

 sure, the men and the child might have 

 been buried as sacrifices to accompany the 

 principal figure. The remains of the fe- 

 males, however, were partly decomposed 

 at the time they were placed in the tomb, 

 as evident from the way the bones were 

 somewhat jumbled. They had probably 

 died years earlier and their remains main- 

 tained elsewhere until this final interment. 



As we excavated the tomb and cata- 

 loged its contents, we couldn't help won- 

 dering who was the important personage 

 buried there. The key to the answer was a 

 major photographic archive of Moche 

 sculpture and drawings at the University 

 of California at Los Angeles. As the tomb 

 was being excavated, photographs of die 

 objects were sent to UCLA for compara- 

 tive study. 



Many of the objects in the coffin sug- 

 gested the man buried there was a warrior. 

 The archive of Moche art contains hun- 

 dreds of depictions from which we can re- 

 construct a sequence of Moche militarism 

 and ceremonial activity. We can see pro- 

 cessions of warriors carrying war clubs, 

 spears, and spear throwers, perhaps on 

 their way to battle. We can see warriors in 

 combat, apparently away from settled 

 ai-eas. The essence of Moche combat ap- 



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