La Huaca de la Luna

On our second day of our visit to Trujillo, we visit the archeological site of the Huaca de la Luna (temple/ tomb of the moon) which is a pyramid that was constructed by the Moche people that lived in the area before the Chimu civilization of Chan Chan. The Moche civilization lived in a valley outside of Trujillo between the 1st and 8th centuries AD and built two huge pyramids (the other one is the Huaca del Sol). When my parents visited in the 1980s, they saw two impressive and massive mounds covered with dirt, but they had no idea what lay hidden beneath them. Archeologists began excavating the Huaca de la luna in 1991 and uncovered incredible murals with the images and paint still intact, as well as incredible pottery and treasures. The pottery from the moche civilization is especially fine and unique and a beautiful museum was opened two years ago that holds many of the pieces found at the site. Many of the pots have very accurate faces sculpted on the top of them; there are sculptures of animals such as warrior ducks and priests chewing cocoa leaves with big puffy cheeks. In moche culture, artisans and specifically potters were very valued and considered higher in status then other workers. After visiting the museum, we took a tour of the site with a very knowledgeable guide who told us a lot about the culture of the people who lived there as well as the process of excavating and conserving the site. They site has received many grants from foundations to create a structure to cover the pyramid to protect it from the elements because unfortunately the government does not have money to support the site. The pyramid is unique because each generation of rulers not only built another new layer on top of the structure, but also built over the entire pyramid so it is like a layered onion. (The photo below is of the back of the pyramid that abuts the volcanic mountain and where human sacrifices took place.)

On top of the pyramid the priests would perform the ritual sacrifice of warriors, mix their blood with the juice of fruits and they even think that the ruler would drink this blood to show his power. Gross stuff, but common in pre-colombian cultures. Inside the pyramid there are many images of what they call "the god of the mountain" or the "god of decapitation." The image of this god is pretty crazy - he looks like a scary monster so no wonder they felt obligated to sacrifice their best men to him! The funny thing is that the murals depict him with different expressions- happy, mad, sad...and it seems like they definitely wanted to stay on the good side of this crazy creature of their imagination.

There are many mysteries that still exist about the moche culture, for example an incredible creation mural on the outside of the pyramid. However, without the funding its very difficult to continue this very costly research. The Huaca del sol which is even larger, is only excavated for 2 months out of the year because of lack of funding. The more Pre-colombian sites I visit, the more I realize how much we still have to learn about the incredibly complex and fascinating cultures that lived in the Americas. There are so many more cultures than just the Aztecs, the Mayas and the Incas and the Moche is definitely one of the most compelling.

(Above is an image of the murals on the outside of the pyramid which depict dancers, spider gods and a serpent.) Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside the museum because I really fell in love with the Moche pottery. I feel very lucky to see this mysterious and magical place and I found myself wishing I had a time machine go back hundreds of generations, but only if I could be a potter, not a warrior because I wouldn't want to risk getting sacrificed to the mountain god!