Forums · Moche Murders
This is taken from the
National Geographic[/URL] website. I saw a documentary on this particular subject quite some time ago and found it fascinating. And wow, were they brutal in the slayings - crushing skulls with huge clubs, etc.! ![[Shock]](graemlins/shock.gif)
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Much of what is known about the Moche has been deciphered from complex illustrations known as fineline paintings that appear on thousands of ceramic vessels. Although nearly half the iconography in these drawings relates to warriors and warrior activities, it does not show the Moche waging war for conquest. Nowhere in Moche art are warriors shown attacking a fortified settlement. Nowhere are warriors shown capturing, killing, or mistreating noncombatants. There is no iconography showing groups of warriors working in a coordinated fashion against another groupwhat we would think of as army against army.
What these drawings do show appears to be highly stylized ceremonial combat in which warriors fought one-on-one for the purpose of producing a few vanquished prisoners. These unfortunates were needed to fill a central role in the sacrifice ceremony that followed battle. Drawing after drawing shows how the prisoners were first stripped of clothing and battle equipment and then, naked and leashed around the neck with a rope, brought back to a ceremonial center. There the prisoners throats were cut, their blood consumed by the ceremony participants, and finally their bodies dismembered. Although the drawings have shown archaeologists how these things were done, the key questionwhyis still unanswered.
Patricia B. Kellogg
