The Temples of the Sun and Moon - Huacas de Moche

Article and Photos by:            Rodney L. Dodig

Outside of the city of Trujillo stands another of Peru’s vast collection of monumental archaeological sites. The Huacas de Moche and the city between them stand here on a dry sandy plain at the foot of a mountain in testament to the ingenuity of the Moche,another of the many ancient cultures of Peru.

On the day that I toured this site one of the many things that I marveled at was the number of Peruvian persons visiting versus the number on non Peruvians. Of the 100 or so people there at the same time as me, the vast majority were from Peru. I was very impressed by this fact. It gave me a good feeling about Peruvians and their desire to learn about and respect their wonderful heritage. As with the other sites I have visited to date, you can either hire one of many tour companies in the city or drive out on your own and hire a guide at the site. The cost either way of visiting this particular site is extremely reasonable.

Huaca de la Luna and Huaca del Sol were ceremonial structures for the ancient Moche Culture built in the Moche Valley as part of a capital city called Cerro Blanco by modern day archaeologists. Here is yet another example of how advanced the early civilizations of Peru were in their building techniques, art and ceramics. The Moche flourished from around 100 AD to 800 AD and at its height, they built some monumental cities and temple structures. Little is really known about the Moche as they had no written language and what is known has been interpreted from their art and ceramics. These show scenes from their lives of hunting, fishing, fighting, sacrifice and elaborate ritual ceremonies. Their cities, ceremonial centers and temples were made of mud brick and in my eyes were most impressive. Tours out of Trujillo are offered to Huaca de la Luna only.

The Huaca del Sol has not been excavated by archaeologists yet. It was the largest of all the buildings on the site and thought to be the largest pre Columbian structure in Peru, but the Spanish actually diverted a river and destroyed 2/3rds of the Temple looking for gold and other treasure. What remains stands magnificent against the blue sky. The archaeologists believe that Huaca del Sol was used mainly for administrative purposes and the burial of the rulers. Huaca de la Luna fared a little better though. I imagine that it was because they built it up the side of a mountain called Cerro Blanco and thus not so easily ravaged. Still, looters have destroyed a portion of the pyramid and so most work by archaeologists is being done on the central and Southern platforms. This Temple is where religious ceremonies like the Warrior Narrative were performed and it housed the religious elite and their burials. From the top of these platforms are dramatic views of the fertile Moche Valley and River and the ancient city as it is being investigated by archaeologists.

The Moche like the Maya did not tear down their temples as they did new construction. They simply built over the old one making it larger but leaving the exterior of the old one intact and therefore preserving a lot of the artwork and colors that covered them. On the outer walls of the older temples, you can see paintings, murals, and sculptured reliefs with their colors still intact. Murals and sculpted reliefs portraying spiders, fish, dragons, dogs, warriors and their captives can still be seen at this site. I can’t imagine how much fear, reverence and awe these temples must have inspired at the height of this culture in both the population and captives being brought into the city. They practiced human sacrifice and it was performed around a formation of stone that was sacred to the Moche.

They built a portion of the Temple around this stone. When the area was excavated, there were hundreds of decapitated skeletons found here. Art from ceramic pieces, called the Warrior Narrative, found at other sites gives a glimpse into the ceremony that was performed here.

It is conjectured that captive warriors either had their skulls crushed, their throats slit or were decapitated and then their bodies thrown from the temple platform into this area containing the sacred stone formation. Their primary god Ai-Apaec (Ayapec) is often referred to “The Decapitator” because when depicted full body in their art, he is holding a decapitated head. Although, the vast majority of representations of their god are of his head only. Ai-Apaec is actually a pre-Quechua word translated as “All Knowing.”

The art on the walls of the temple reminded me of Egypt in a way. The temples were covered in paintings depicting their gods and the things that were important to them. There were also scenes of soldiers and their captives that looked almost identical to the paintings on the tombs of some of the Pharos of Egypt. During the tour of this temple, you will see many bricks with different marks on them. It is thought that the ruling and religious elite required that a certain number of bricks be made by the different clans that made up the population and these marks were a way for them to account for the number supplied.

The Moche thrived for many centuries but eventually their culture came to an end. Archaeologists named the Moche people and their culture after the primary archaeological site in the Moche River Valley. The latest theory holds that they were not conquered by another culture but succumbed to climat changes and an internal war for scarce resources. Some also theorize that the Moche Culture evolved into the Chimu, which built the amazing city of Chan Chan.

The World Monument Fund has been doing a lot of work to help preserve this site. This is easily observed by the multitude of coverings built over the structures to prevent further erosion by the rains. In addition to the rains, the blowing sand has caused much damage to this site and fence type structures have been put up to keep back the sand and help prevent erosion by wind and blowing sand also. I personally think that the remnants of all the ancient cultures are worth saving and studying. We have lost so much knowledge of our past. Some of it we will never recover and are only now coming to the realization of how important this past can be to us. All peoples should take pride in their ancient heritage and do whatever they can to help protect and preserve it.

Writing, nearing the end; Friends; Fall Has Arrived

 I am having the same problem that I had with my first two books. The nearer I get to the end, the harder it gets. I haven’t been able to figure out a reason for this. I’ve thought it might be the dread of killing off characters I have become attached to despite their nefarious actions. Another could be ending the plot lines and story; I seem to live inside my books as I am writing them. I share the various lives I’ve given each character living and relishing the moments I’ve spent building them and creating moments throughout their lives. Some I take from my past, others are from the lives of friends, strangers I watch at coffee shops, or acquaintances. Building the world they occupy and making it interesting to those who read the books causes me to edit and re-edit scenes over and over. So here I sit, within reach of the end and regretting getting there. Despite all that, I finished another chapter this week and started another one. It added up to a little more the two thousand words. I’m excited and sad at the same time. Excited to finish this story and start another one, sad to end this one and nervous about starting the next. Do all writers go through this? 

 Life in Peru goes on. The occasional small tremblor (as they call them here), the humidity and

temperature have fallen, and the horrendous traffic of Lima continues in an unending dance. I’m glad that Fall has finally arrived. I am unusual in the fact that summer is my least favorite season. In the US, I looked forward to the changing colors and cooler temperatures of Fall. Here in Lima, the colors don’t change much and those that do are the result of new plantings of fall flowers in the parks. The humidity drops to a tolerable level and that makes my long walks with my camera that much more enjoyable. They say that El Niño is going to give us a warmer winter. I imagine all that means is that we will have Fall until Spring hits us. I can certainly live with that.

There wasn’t much going on with my friends this past week. I met up with Larry for coffee on Friday morning again. He arrived early, his student didn’t show. We still enjoyed out usual lively round of conversation before he headed back to Barranco. I had a nice lunch with Bob. He was in San Borja for another dental appointment. Cocktails with Mona and Kelly Friday evening were enjoyable as always. They are in Mexico now (Cozumel) enjoying the sun and beautiful views. I will be having cocktails with them this evening via Facetime on the balcony of the hotel. It overlooks the ocean. The rest are off being social and enjoying life here in Peru, the US, and other parts of the world. That’s it for this post, it was a quiet week with no really exciting or stressful moments.

I hope all of you are exercising body and mind. I went back to the gym yesterday for the first time in many months. I’m hoping to keep it till the end of the year at a minimum. Then I will have to reevaluate my membership. Have a great week everyone.