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Larco Museum - Sacrifice Ceremony

The practice of human sacrifice was common to many ancient cultures. Death, the shedding of blood and physical mutilation ritually transformed the victim. The life being offered to the gods gave the transformed individual sacred status (sacrum facere).

The ritual combat ceremony and subsequent human sacrifice practiced by the Moche was not unique to this culture. In Mesoamerica we find the “Flower Wars” practiced by the Aztecs of Mexico, which ended with the ritual sacrifice of the defeated warriors. Among the Mayans, the ritual of the “ball game” appears to have culminated with the sacrifice of some of the players.

Human sacrifices were also common among the Celts, Scandinavians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans and oriental peoples.

Sacrifice ceremony room
Sacrifice is the central act in almost all religions. Human sacrifice entailed the offering of a victim in order to placate the wrath of gods, spirits or cosmic forces.

  • In today’s world symbolic forms of sacrifice can still be seen in certain religious practices.
  • Among the Moche, the object of ritual combat between warriors seems to have been the selection of candidates for sacrifice from among the most productive members of society.
  • The society offered its gods one of its most valued assets in exchange for the well-being of the community. Sacrifice constituted an act of giving and receiving.

Mochica Warriors
Ceramic. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Warriors prepared for ritual combat. To show their high social position they dressed themselves with headdresses, feather ornaments, ear plugs, breastplates, necklaces, bracelets, decorated shirts, backflaps, rattles and face paint. They carried shields and weapons such as clubs, lances and spear-throwers.

Mochica Sacrifice Ceremony
Pottery vessel. Northern coast of Peru. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • In nature, death is needed in order to give life. The human sacrifice depicted on this vessel is probably associated with the spring equinox. This is an important moment in the Andean agricultural calendar, announcing the coming of the rainy season.
    • Propitiatory rites are depicted on this pottery vessel: the sacrifice of captured warriors and the presenting of a goblet to the gods.
    • A two-headed serpent is shown apparently holding a sacrificial heart in its hands. Its body divides the vessel into two hemispheres: an upper and lower section.
    • A sacrifice is depicted in the lower section; the executioner’s hands approach the neck of a naked man, who is seated with his hands tied; the blood of the sacrificial victim is collected in a vessel and offered to the gods of the celestial world.
    • In the upper section, we see the gods: the Radiant God, a figure with feline fangs and a conical helmet ending in a tumi (symbol of the sun) and serpent-like rays, receives the vessel from an osprey, a bird of prey able to fly and also to submerge itself in the ocean when fishing, and therefore associated with both the celestial world and the underworld. Also depicted is the Moon Goddess, seen in a longer tunic and wearing braids that end in serpent heads. The goddess advances, carrying the vessel from the nighttime world into the world ruled by the Radiant God. Finally, we see the Owl God, shown with a half moon and owl ear headdress, who rules over the dark and damp underworld. This figure is also known as the God of the Milky Way, for its association with the night sky, stars and rainfall.
    • The Owl God is the complementary opposite of the Radiant God. They represent the two forces which dominate during different periods of the year and yet at the same time complement one another: the dry season and the rainy season. This opposition is expressed in the opposing positions adopted by the two figures on the vessel.
    • This vessel appears to depict a ceremonial meeting between the two gods, possibly marking an important moment within the agricultural calendar, such as the spring equinox, which heralds the beginning of the rainy season.

Mochica sacrifice ceremony
The Sacrifice Ceremony was central to the Mochica religion.

  • The presentation of the blood of the defeated to the greater gods is the culmination of the ritual combats.
  • In several archaeological sites on the north coast of Peru, tombs were excavated where people were found with ornaments and objects that allow us to identify them as those who participated in these ceremonies.

Anthropomorphic Bird Warrior
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


Feline-shaped Jar
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


Dog that Accompanied the Radiant God
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


Portable Platform or Litter
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


Radiant God that Receives the Goblet with the Blood of the Sacrificed Warriors
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


Serpent with Two Feline Heads
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


End of the combat and procession of defeated warriors
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Moche warriors faced each other with clubs and shields. Combat was hand-to-hand and seems to have taken place in open areas like those found on the deser coast.
  • When a warrior removed another's helmet or grabbed his hair the combat was over. The defeated warrior was stripped and his weapons and clothes were wrapped in a bundle. The victors led the defeated warriors by ropes tied around their necks to their final destination: the place of sacrifice.

Pictorial bottle neck with stirrup handle
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Pictorial bottle neck with stirrup handle representing warriors fighting.
  • Warrior with headdress, circular ear muffs, face paint, wrist guards, tunic and hip protector.
  • Naked prisoner with tubular ear muffs, face and body paint, noose around neck.
  • Warrior holding baton, with feline and crescent headdress, with face and body paint, wrist guards, tunic and hip protector.
  • Defeated warrior holding shield, with tubular ear muffs, tunic and body paint.
  • Representation of bundled weapons and anthropomorphic baton clothing with shield (panoply) and birds.

Sculptural bottle neck with stirrup handle
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Sculptural bottle neck with stirrup handle representing combat between two warriors
  • One is holding a baton, with a conical helmet, circular earflaps, skirt, hip protector.
  • The other is holding a quadrangular shield and baton, with a pectoral and hip protector.
  • Fallen crescent headdress and prowling feline.

Pictorial bottle neck with stirrup handle
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Pictorial bottle neck with stirrup handle representing warriors parading with naked prisoners with rope around their necks.
  • Warriors are holding batons and circular shields, with conical helmet, shirt and loincloth.
  • Stirrup handle with representation of batons and shields (panoplies).

Characters participating in the ceremony
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


God with Owl Headdress
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


Defeated Warrior
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


Anthropomorphic Iguana
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


Bundle of Weapons and Clothing Belonging to a Defeated Warrior
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


Moon Goddess
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


The Victor, Symbolized by the Feline, Attacks the Defeated Warrior
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).


Mochica decapitator gods
Ceramic. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • In Mochica art the gods were represented fighting among themselves, or against other supernatural beings or humans.
  • These battles ended with the decapitation of the defeated opponent.
  • The gods are represented holding a half-moon shaped knife known as a tumi.

Sculptural bottle neck with stirrup handle
Ceramic. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Sculptural bottle neck with stirrup handle representing anthropomorphic character (Dragon) with a human body, sawn animal head, snake belt, shirt with geometric line designs, wristbands and loincloth, holding knife and cutting the throat of a character with shirt and loincloth.

Silver-plated copper ceremonial knife
Ceramic. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Silver-plated copper ceremonial knife (tumi) with a representation of an anthropomorphic character with a headdress with five plumes, circular earflaps and two rays, holding knife and decapitated human head.

Sculptural bottle neck
Ceramic. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Sculptural bottle neck with stirrup handle representing seated anthropomorphic character holding decapitated human head and knife, with animal head and wings (bat), feline fangs, wrist guards and knife hanging on the back and wrist guards (vampire demon / cutthroat bat).
  • This is a ceramic sculptural bottle depicting a decapitating mythological being. The character is a mix of feline, sea lion and stingray.
  • He is a being of the darkness and deep sea, who sits holding a decapitated human head in one hand, and a knife in the other.
  • Originally, this piece must have had mother-of-pearl inlays in the small concave circles seen on the surface of the piece, which would have suggested the brightness of stars against a dark sky. It is very likely that this being has celestial connotations, like a constellation.

Mochica sacrificial cup and knife
Metal. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • The warriors’ throats were cut and their blood collected in ceremonial cups to be offered to the priests, the representatives of the gods.
  • In the tombs of individuals who in life must have taken part in this ceremony, similar knives and cups have been found.

Other Mochica sacrifices
Ceramic. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Mochica art illustrates other ways in which defeated warriors were sacrificed.
  • Some ceremonies occurred on islands, with the warriors transported on rafts.
  • Another type of sacrifice took place in the mountains, and the warriors were thrown off a precipice.

Island with animals and a Moche structure with four warrior-lookouts
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Sculptural bottle neck with stirrup handle representing an island with animals (sea lions) and a Moche structure with four warrior-lookouts.
  • The structure contains clubs, stored shirts, ceramic vessels and totora reed horses with loads.

Men sacrificed by falling off a mountain
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Sculptural bottle neck with stirrup handle depicting men sacrificed by falling off a mountain.
  • Seated figure with feline headdress and crescent moon, breastplate and wristbands.
  • Figures falling off a cliff with shirt and loincloth.
  • Figure carrying animal.

Aia Paec holding an oar and sailing in a boat in the shape of a demon fish
Ceramic. Mochica. Peruvian Northern Coast. Florescent Epoch (1 CE – 800 CE).

  • Sculptural bottle neck with stirrup handle depicting an anthropomorphic character with supernatural features (Aia Paec) with feline fangs, a snake belt, a headdress with two plumes in the shape of animal heads, a shirt with stepped designs, a loincloth with geometric designs of circles and dots; holding an oar and sailing in a boat in the shape of a demon fish.
  • Representation of two prisoners, one smaller in scale, naked, with his hands tied behind his back, another prisoner naked, with his hands tied and a rope around his neck.
  • Representation of an animal (sea lion) holding a bowl.
  • The surface decoration is painted.

See also

Sources

Location

Location: Av. Simón Bolivar 1515 Ingreso por, frente al, Parque Larco, Navarra 169, Pueblo Libre 15084, Peru