Our journey through Andean Art takes us to the coast of Northern Peru, were we find the impressive remains of the Moche civilization that dates from c 100 BC to 800 CE. Contemporary to the Nazca peoples further down the coast. The Moche, so called because it was the name of their capital, that lies at the foot of the Cerro Blanco mountains and covered an area of 300 hectares. This city included city dwellings, plazas, storehouses and workshop along with impressive monumental pyramids.
Image 1. Huaca del Sol as seen from the southeast, with the Moche River delta beyond and city ruins in the foreground. (Wikipedia)
Image 2. A view of the Huaca de la Luna, with Cerro Blanco in the background. (Wikipedia)
A high brick wall once enclosed the entire temple complex. Around 450 CE, work on both temples was completed. The larger complex, called the Huaca del Sol (The Sun Temple), was originally more than 50 metres high and was built using over 140 million adobe bricks, each stamped with a signature mark. The smaller temple, known as the Huaca de la Luna (Moon Temple), consists of three tiers built from 50 million bricks. Although, both temples were once brightly decorated in red, yellow and black to provide an imposing setting for religious activities, only the Moon temple’s friezes gives us a narrative of the traditions of the Moche people’s believes and rituals. Both these temples display typical Moche architecture characteristics namely, multiple levels, access ramps and slanted roofing. It seems that the pyramids were also use as a crypt for the important figures of the Moche culture.
Image 3. The main mural of the Huaca de la Luna (Wikipedia)
Image4. Pictures of Ai-Apaec in the “huaca de la Luna”. La Libertad, Peru. (Wikipedia)
The most impressive examples of the Moche art have come from the recovered tombs at Sipán, San Jose de Moro and Huaca Cao Viejo. The Moche culture is today recognised for their superb realistic portrait ceramic stirrup-spouted vessels. These portraits are recognisable as individuals – real people – in one example; we can recognise one individual in several different depictions because of the cut on his lip. Pottery production made use of moulds but each was individually decorated, typically using cream, red and browns. Other examples of pottery include narrative depictions of everyday life in the Moche culture painted in red on light ceramic wares. Popular subjects display anthropomorphic figures, especially fanged felines, humans in action and animals like snakes, frogs, birds – especially the owl, fish and crabs.
Image 5. Moche portrait vessel, Musée du quai Branly in Paris (Wikipedia)
Image 6. Alpaca wool tapestry (600–900 AD), Lombards Museum (Wikipedia)
Image 7. Moche warrior pot, British Museum (Wikipedia)
Image 8. Crescent-Shaped Ornament with Bat, C.E. 1 – 300 Brooklyn Museum (Wikipedia)
Image 9. Moche Nariguera depicting the Decapitator, gold with turquoise and chrysocolla inlays. Museo Oro del Peru, Lima. (Wikipedia)
Image 10. The Lord of Sipán, Royal Tombs of Sipán museum, Lambayeque, Peru. (Wikipedia)
Researchers today believe that the Moon goddess was the supreme deity of the Moche, controlling the seasons and the storms. The Moon is considered more powerful than the Sun since it can be seen both at night and during the day. This sentiment seems true when examining the multiple examples of night animals displayed in the Moche art as well as depictions of the night skies with a crescent moon.
Other forms of art include stunning examples of metalwork: gold headdresses, chest plates, nose rings and ear spools – some with turquoise inlaid; textiles; tumi knives and copper ware.
For our warm-ups, we did perceptual drawings of portrait vessels:
Our last two stops are Tiwanaku and Wari.
Tiwanaku: The monumental straight-cut building blocks still baffle researchers and visitors alike. Just how did they manage to cut and move these giant blocks? Groves cut into the blocks suggest they used ropes to move and position the blocks. Bronze clamps were cast directly into the T- and I-sockets in the stone to create massive stone doors. These huge stone buildings were used exclusively for temples, while adobe blocks were used for residential buildings.
Image 11. The Gateway of the Sun from the Tiwanku civilization in Bolivia (Wikipedia).
Image 12. Gate of the Moon. (Wikipedia)
Image 13. Walls around the temple Kalasasaya (Wikipedia)
The sacred complex consisted of the Akapana Temple, with an artificial hill which was over 15 metres high and had seven tiers with steps cut into the east and west sides. The Kalasasaya was a rectangular structure of 130 by 120 metres with the Ponce Monolith (3.5 m tall) at the entrance. Next, we find the Semi-Subterranean Temple, with a sunken court measuring 28.5 by 26 metres, accessed via a single staircase leading down from the south side. All the courts and platforms were paved. The interior wall of the sunken court were decorated with stone heads build into the wall and in the centre of the court stelae (statues) were found, e.g. Bennett Stela which is 7.3 metres tall depicted a ruler of more likely a High Priest of Tiwanaku. On many of the stelae relief carvings depict mythical creatures and suggest a narrative with roots that can be traced back to previous cultures like the Chavin’s.
Image 14. Closeup of carved stone tenon-head embedded in wall of Tiwanaku’s Semi-subterranean Temple (Wikipedia)
Image 15. Ponce stela in the sunken courtyard of the Tiwanaku’s Kalasasaya temple (Wikipedia)
The most famous structure of Tiwanaku is the monumental Gateway of the Sun. Carved from a single piece of andesite stone, the gateway measures 2.8 metres high by 3.8 metres wide, the opening of the gate is 1.4 metres wide. Relief carvings cover the top portion of the gate: the central figure reminds us of the Staff god from the Chavin culture, the forerunner of the Andean god Viracocha. The central figure is surrounded by three rows of 48 winged creatures wearing feathered headdresses. Underneath these figures is a row of geometrical designs.
The Tiwanaku culture had definite elite group that lived in finer built residential areas with cobblestone foundations and private courtyards surrounded with high adobe brick walls, the houses were constructed from finely cut stone blocks. The largest parts of the residential buildings were built with adobe bricks. Canals, drainage channels, hearths and wall niches have been found suggesting organisation. The absence of storehouses and administrative buildings suggest a lack of provisional planning and eventually lead to their demise with the El Nino draughts.
Wari: or huari was a militaristic group that succeeded through successful exploitation of the diverse landscape by building terraces for agriculture using constructed canals to irrigate their crops ensuring stable food sources even during extreme lengths of droughts. This provisional planning and sensible building of enough storehouses ensured the Wari success were other civilisations perished. While their contemporary cultures, the Nazca and the Moche civilisations, complete dispersed during the 30-year drought of the 6th century they flourished.
Image 16. Pikillaqta administrative center, built by the Wari civilization in Cusco. (Wikipedia)
The Wari built massive city walls – up to 10 metres high and 4 metres wide – with large rough stones set in mud mortar. Buildings had two or three stories and courtyards were lined with stone benches built into the walls. Most floors and the walls of buildings were plastered and painted white. There is little distinction between public and private buildings. The temple in the Moraduchayuq compound, in the southeast part of the city, was built in the 6th century and had subterranean parts – the whole structure was painted red.
Similar to other Andean cultures, it is their tombs that provide the best examples of their art, including textiles, ceramics and metalwork. A royal tomb in the Monjachayoq sector consists of 25 chambers on two different levels; all lined with finely cut stone slabs (traded from the Tiwanaku people). A shaft leading down to the third level chamber was built in the shape of a Llama – the royal resting chamber – dates to 750-800 CE. Further down, we find a final room cut out of the rock.
A beautiful example of Wari settlements can be found at Pikillacta that was built as a military settlement on an altitude of 3250 m. Built in a rectangular form, 745 by 630 metres it is laid out in a precise geometrical pattern of squares that restricted entrance to one single point. Pikillacta is also notable for the 40 miniature greenstone figurines depicting elite citizens and small figures of transformational shamans, warriors, bounded captives and pumas in copper, gold and semi-precious stones.
The Wari civilizations success can also be seen in the extensive trade routes established to far reaching places with settlements along the routes. Roads and water channels connected all the settlements. This system also ensured an economic stable civilization with wealthy elite.
Image 17. Four-Cornered Hat, 650-1000. Brooklyn Museum. (Wikipedia)
Image 18. Huari earthenware pot with painted design, 650-800 CE (Middle Horizon) (Wikipedia)
Image 19. Wig Headdress, Wari People, 600-1000 C.E, Brooklyn Museum. (Wikipedia)
They are especially known for feathered textiles in predominantly geometric rectilinear patterns, like the steppe diamond motif. Blue was a favoured colour for these textiles. Geometric patterns often included a single random change in the motif or colour change suggesting a signature. Other textiles depict deities, plants and animals, particularly the condor, puma and llama.
The same patterns are used in their ceramics and metalwork.
The exact cause for the Wari’s decline is unknown, but during the 9th century, they seem to have destroyed their own buildings after entombing their treasures in the subterranean chambers.
For class warm-ups, we created our own geometrical patterns before looking at example of Wari art:
