An article by Richard Sutter and Rosa Cortez in Current Anthropology made it across my desk this winter, discussing the several ideas about who it was that the Moche sacrificed. the Moche were a state level society on the coast of northern Peru known mostly for their portrait ceramics. Sutter and Cortez looked at the mortuary remains from an Early Intermediate Period (200 BC-AD 750) cemetery at the capital Huaca de la Luna. Archaeologists have been divided as to whether the people who were sacrificed by the Moche were local Moche participating in staged battles; non-Moche captives; or enemy Moche warriors. Using iconography, mortuary treatment and other archaeological data, they report that they believe the victims were not from the local Moche populations, but from enemy Moche warriors. With signed comments from several scholars, some of whom argue that there is no evidence for in-fighting among the different Moche polities. Still, interesting article and worth taking a peek.
Richard C. Sutter and Rosa J. Cortez. 2005. The Nature of Moche Human Sacrifice: A bio-archaeological perspective. Current Anthropology 46(4):521-549.
The photograph in this blog is of the archaeological site of Huaca de la Luna, taken by Bruno Girin (c) 2005.
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