Centuries before the rise of the Inca, the Moche created impressive monumental architecture and precious metal objects, approximately in the age between 100 and 800 A.D.. Today, large-scale projects at several sites in Peru, including the richest unlooted tomb ever discovered in the New World, have uncovered dramatic new discoveries about this ancient coastal civilization. This volume discusses the implications of these findings. A major theme of the book is how the visual arts and political representation are connected in Moche culture. The contributors pay special attention to the relations between Moche visual imagery and other kinds of knowledge gained from the archaeological record. Topics ranging from the nature of urbanism, to Moche portraiture, to the visual representation of warfare compared to the physical remains of battles, will fascinate not only archaeologists and art historians but also students and scholars in related disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
The dramatic discoveries of the royal tombs at Sipan in the late 1980s and early 1990s have focused attention on the art and archaeology of the Moche culture, which flourished on the north coast of Peru from centuries before the rise of the Inca until the eighth century C.E. New data have been discovered in recent years, prompting the National Gallery of Art to host a symposium whose results are now presented in its "Studies in the History of Art" series. An important theme among the 15 scholarly papers presented and chosen for inclusion here by Pillsbury (arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, Univ. of East Anglia) is the connection between visual arts and political representation; the topics range from the nature of urbanism to Moche portraiture to the depiction of war and human sacrifice. Also discussed is a major development in Moche archaeology in the past ten years: the study of settlement patterns and monumental architectural complexes, which has proven extremely useful in showing the relationship between art and real life. Because of its unique approach this up-to-date, beautifully illustrated book will be of interest to large public libraries, academic libraries, and special libraries collecting in art, anthropology, humanities, social sciences, or Hispanic studies. Sylvia Andrews, Indiana State Lib., Indianapolis
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review
A well-edited and illustrated volume... This volume represents a landmark in Moche studies. -- Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
This handsome and imposing volume...seems destined to become a mainstay of every art historian and archaeologist's library. -- College Art Association Reviews
[Selected as one of the 'Editors' Picks.'] -- Archaeology Magazine, July/August 2002
This handsome and imposing volume...seems destined to become a mainstay of every art historian and archaeologist's library. -- College Art Association Reviews
[Selected as one of the 'Editors' Picks.'] -- Archaeology Magazine, July/August 2002
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
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This review is from: Moche Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru (Studies in the History of Art Series) (Paperback)
A delightful selection of papers from a 21st century symposium on the modalities of Moche civilization from a wide variety of sites on the north coast of Peru. Shimada contributes a nice piece that focuses on some of the everyday technology that made luxurious living possible with detailed maps of workshops, or mini-factories, that produced ceramics and smelted metals in back street sectors of long dead, repeatedly looted, cities. Meditations on human sacrifice, or at least intentional ritualized killing, and postmortem "quality times" combine with three dimensional portrait images of several men whose accomplishments and sufferings were legendary. The book includes a tantalizing introduction to the images of a narrative told in bas relief on the walls of Huaca Cao Viejo that pique my curiosity -- why are they still under wraps? As a general rule, the illustrative photographs and drawings are less satisfying, because more traditional and in grey scale, than those in other recent books, although they are still quite evocative. Good papers, with good bibliographies, but few Websites which is disappointing because it is clear that all the authorities have taken numerous photos of everything.
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