The Moche capital on the outskirts of modern Trujillo in Peru is a vast site that has revealed many spectacular finds since its discovery at the end of the 19th century. This year, however, has proved particularly revealing: three tombs belonging to the city’s elite, and crammed with bizarre symbols of wealth and power, were found beside a ceremonial dais that is architecturally unique. Who were these three individuals? Why were they buried here? And what part did they play in this ritualistic society that disappeared more than 1,000 years ago?
The Huacas de Moche, or Pyramids of the Moche, lie about 5km from the city of Trujillo in the northern regions of Peru along its Pacific coastline. It is an enormous site, covering about 100 hectares and divided into three sections, bookended by two huge pyramids – the Huaca del Sol (Pyramid of the Sun) to the north-west and the Huaca de la Luna (Pyramid of the Moon) to the south-east – with a sprawling urban centre in between.
Excavations under the aegis of the Huaca de la Luna Project began here in 1991, directed by Dr Santiago Uceda Castillo and Dr Ricardo Moreles of the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo in Peru. Now, after nearly two decades of continual investigation, they are giving us a glimpse into the mysterious world of this sophisticated society, which formed the continent’s first empire almost 800 years before the rise of the mighty Incas. The Moche had no written language, and their culture disappeared long before the arrival of adventurers from the Old World. So, with no historical sources, their story can be told only through the archaeological record. Now that record is revealing an extraordinary and long-lived civilisation whose huge monumental structures, complex irrigation systems, and bizarre, bloody-thirsty rituals endured for centuries before eventually succumbing to unpredictable but punishing climate change and overwhelming external political forces.
