The Moche (Peoples of America) [Hardcover]

Garth Bawden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 1997 | ISBN-10: 1557865205 | ISBN-13: 978-1557865205 | Edition: 1

This vivid evocation of an ancient civilization is both enlivened and deepened by the author's sympathetic understanding of customs, rituals and myths which to modern eyes may seem both strange and terrible. It will be widely welcomed by scholars and students of South American archaeology and history, by all those curious to know more about a civilization that for thirteen centuries was largely forgotten.

Editorial Reviews

Review

" It is doubly welcome because Garth Bawden, himself a Moche specialist, has done a masterful job of condensing and interpreting the great number of scholarly publications on the Moche into a book which will serve the interested public, students at various levels of study, and specialists alike." Jeffrey Quilter, Pre-Columbian Studies, Dumbarton Oaks

From the Back Cover

The Moche civilization was created by the people who lived in the arid coastal regions of Northern Peru from around AD 100 to AD 700. This civilization had long been known for the great mud-brick pyramids that tower over the river valleys, for the splendor of its art and for its agricultural prowess. However, the social organization and political history that underlay these achievements remained generally obscure. At the end of the 1980s our vision of Moche society was suddenly and irrevocably altered. A series of discoveries on the North coast of Peru revealed stunning artistic and technological achievements and caused a dramatic revision of the sophistication and power of Moche society. This is the first book to describe this ancient civilization in the light of the new evidence.

In the first part of the book the author examines the integral relationship between the Moche people and their physical world, their economy, and everyday life at all levels of society. He describes the symbols of religion and myth and shows how these were vital participants in rituals, often involving human sacrifice, that served to maintain balance with the unpredictable forces of nature while at the same time reinforcing the power of the rulers.

In the second part of the book the author investigates the origins of Moche society in the first two millennia BC, the emergence of Moche society and the evolution of its cultural and political pre-eminence. The picture that emerges is of a brilliant manifestation of Andean culture within whose society diversity and tension were as evident as unity and whose development and decline were shaped by the attributes of its own peculiar history and by the region in which it flourished.

This vivid evocation of an ancient civilization is both enlivened and deepened by the author's sympathetic understanding of customs, rituals and myths which to modern eyes may seem both strange and terrible. It will be widely welcomed by scholars and students of South American archaeology and history, and by those curious to know more about a civilization that for thirteen centuries was largely forgotten.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (April 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557865205
• ISBN-13: 978-1557865205
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,564,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and boring, June 9, 2006

By 

jabathehunt "JBH" (Papendrecht, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Moche (Peoples of America) (Paperback)

Garth Bawden starts to point out that a civilization does not have a certain date at which it starts nor ends. The Moche people also had their ancestors and evolved into a new civilization. This all happened in different timeframes in the northern, middle and southern part of their reign. Garth has little concern for ceramics but has many theories to prove his view. The book is devided in the social part of the moche and the second part about their origins (shouldn't this be the way around?). In all there are many dublicates in both parts. This means that the book is rather hard to read. The end of the book is also less elaborate, as if he wanted to end this torture. Certainly not suited for your first aquitance with the Moche, but it has some interesting chapters. The photo's are of very poor quality.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for the general public, August 25, 2005

By 

George (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Moche (Peoples of America) (Paperback)

Bawden is often quoted for his archaelogical studies of the North of Peru, so I bought his book in advance of my tourist trip to the Moche sites, of which I knew next to nothing. I spent many disappointing hours trying to study this book but I was not able even to finish it. The book is terribly dry and while it is not strictly limited to a list of archeological finds, that is clearly the forte of the author. The style is way more awkward than the average scholarly text, the photos of which there are many are absolutely substandard (this must be the fault of the printer). But more substantially, I came out of my struggle with this book without even a half way understanding of what distinguished the Moche from the previous civilizations, from the contemporary ones, and from those that followed it. If you are serious in wanting to study the Moche, I am sure that this could be a useful addition to your text list, but if you want to read just one book, choose something else.