Moche Culture

The Moche were an archaeological culture that flourished on the north coast of Peru from roughly 100 to 800 CE, known for elaborate irrigation systems, monumental adobe pyramids such as Huaca de la Luna, and finely painted and modeled ceramics depicting warfare, sacrifice and sexual and mythological scenes in vivid detail. They left no deciphered writing system, so their own name for themselves and their gods is unknown; Moche is a modern archaeological label taken from the Moche River near Trujillo, and deity names used in the scholarly literature, including Ai Apaec, are scholarly conventions rather than attested indigenous terms. Excavated burial and sacrificial deposits, especially at Huaca de la Luna, provide the primary evidence for Moche religious practice.