Moche culture

ago.

The Moche people of northern Peru often used alpaca images in their art.

Traditionally, alpaca were bred and raised in herds, grazing on the level meadows and escarpments of the Andes, from Ecuador and Peru to western Bolivia and northern Chile, typically at an altitude of 3,500 to 5,000 meters, or 11,000 to 16,000 feet above sea level.

There are no known wild alpacas, and its closest living relative, the vicuña, also native to South

The famous Nazca lines would be created over an extended period, roughly spanning the late 1st millennium BC and the first several centuries.

Farther north, the Moche culture was beginning to develop.

Over the following centuries, Moche societies would construct enormous adobe ceremonial complexes and produce some of the most sophisticated ceramics in the ancient Americas.

The Paracas culture, known for its extraordinary textiles and complex funerary practices, was influential in southern coastal Peru around this period as well.

In the Andean highlands, farmers cultivated potatoes, quinoa, and other crops that were adopted to mountain environments.

[laughs]

... for at least 4,000 years, locals from t- the Moche Chicama culture were practicing surf on the caballitos de Totora, which is a small reed boat.

And it is here where w- my friends from the Andes are gonna get a little upset, but I believe one of the best, uh, examples of fine Peruvian cuisine has evolved.

So I'm just mentioning that all this, this, this area has a lot.

You know, we did Paracas and, and Nazcas.

W- we did all that.

Now we go to the north and we go into several cultures, the Lambayeques, but the Moche and Mochica cultures.

These are pre-Inca cultures.

The Aztecs connected frogs with Tlaloc, the god of rain and water.

The Moche civilization of ancient Peru depicted frogs frequently in their ceramics, often in association with water and agriculture.

In medieval European folklore, frogs and toads were often associated with witchcraft.

A toad was considered a common familiar for a witch, and toad parts were supposed ingredients in magical potions.

Farmers left milk offerings for her cats to bless the harvests.

Or Ai Apaec, a pre-Inca Mochica culture god, which was a shapeshifting creator god depicted with feline fangs and whiskers who possessed strong animal and spiritual powers.

Or Ovinnik from Slavic folklore, a house and barn spirit that often took the form of a black cat to guard livestock and farm animals.

And of course, Hecate, a goddess of magic and crossroads who was sometimes said to transform into a cat to escape distress.

Long before the Incas made pilgrimage an instrument of imperial authority, the people of the Andes knew how to gather strangers around a religious center.

Centuries later, between roughly the 1st and 8th centuries CE, the Moche flourished in the coastal valleys of Peru.

They were not necessarily subjects of one united kingdom.

Their settlements appear to have shared artistic practices, beliefs, and commercial connections, while retaining considerable local independence.

Yet, religious leadership could gather resources on an impressive scale.

At the settlement called Moche, laborers erected two enormous ceremonial pyramids, the Huaca del Sol and the Huaca de la Luna.

The former rose approximately 135 feet, or 41 meters.

Similar, though smaller, construction stood in other valleys.

Well, I think I'm gonna horrify people by betraying my side because, um, I, [laughs] all of my favorite objects of the show tend to be America's objects.

Uh, but I have many favorites, but, um, I think one object that always stands out to me, and I think Joan can probably guess what I'm gonna say, is a vessel made by the Moche on nor- the north coast of Peru that is a category of hybrid that we do not see a lot of in medieval Europe- Which is a creature that is part human and part plant.

And, uh-

Oh

So maybe Peanut Person.

It's a small object, so it doesn't have the sort of grandeur and magnificence of the Bat Lord, but it is beyond precious and, uh, amusing and just a, a pleasure to look at.

I mean, the Moche were wizards when it came to working with clay.

I mean, I'm, I'm completely converted to, to loving, uh, Moche pottery.

The Early Horizon, 2900 to 2200 BP, saw the development and spread of the Chavín civilization, notable for their goldsmithing and metalworking.

The Early Intermediate Period saw smaller-scale civilizations such as the Moche and Nazca.

The Middle Horizon, 600 to 1000 CE, saw the beginning of powerful states with large areas of influence and control in the Andean region.

Specifically, two civilizations came to dominate, Wari and Tiwanaku.