Earflare Frontal

This earflare frontal, one of a pair with MMA 1979.206.1243, is an unusual example of a Moche ornament made from gold sheet, rather than gilded copper, which is more common. The figure was cut from a hammered gold sheet and then details were added using the repoussé technique (worked from behind). Originally, the figure would have been attached to a silver backing (now lost) with small tabs, part of a cylindrical ornament designed to be inserted through the lobe of an ear.

The figure, sometimes called the Decapitator in the scholarly literature, is depicted holding a human head in one hand and a ceremonial knife with a crescent blade (tumi) in the other. He wears a crescent headdress, "figure eight" earspools and a short, vertically striped tunic with a lower fringe with triangular shapes, likely representing conical metal bells. The eyes and mouth may have once held inlays of shell or stone. The two slits in the headdress, over the forehead, likely once supported a tiny silver or gold head, perhaps that of an owl or feline.

The four rays that emanate outward from the figure represent pairs of spider legs. In other images of the Decapitator, there is a line separating the pair of legs in each ray (see, for example, MMA 1979.206.1247). The significance of the association of the Decapitator with spiders is unknown. Perhaps, the way spiders trap their prey in a web and liquefy their internal organs was considered analogous to the Moche practice of prisoner capture and sacrifice by bloodletting (Alva, 2008; Cordy-Collins, 1992).

This ornament was said to have been found at a site near Piura known as Loma Negra, a northern outpost of Moche culture. Loma Negra works in metal share similar iconography with ceramics and metalwork found at Moche sites further to the south, such as Ucupe (Bourget, 2014). The precise relationship between Loma Negra and the Moche "heartland" remains a subject of debate, however (Kaulicke, 2006).

The Moche (also known as the Mochicas) flourished on Peru’s North Coast from 250-850 CE, centuries before the rise of the Incas (Castillo, 2017). Over the course of some seven centuries, the Moche built thriving regional centers from the Nepeña River Valley in the south to perhaps as far north as the Piura River, near the modern border with Ecuador, developing coastal deserts into rich farmlands and drawing upon the abundant maritime resources of the Pacific Ocean’s Humboldt Current. Although it is not certain whether the Moche formed a single centralized state, they shared unifying cultural traits such as religious practices (Donnan, 2010).

References and Further Reading:

Alva Meneses, Néstor Ignacio. "Spiders and Spider Decapitations in Moche Iconography: Identification from the Contexts of Sipán, Antecedents and Symbolism." In The Art and Archeology of the Moche, edited by Steve Bourget and Kimberly L. Jones, pp. 247-261. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.

Bourget, Steve. Les rois mochica: Divinité et pouvoir dans le Pérou ancien. Paris: Somogy éditions d'art; Geneva: MEG, Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, 2014.


Castillo, Luis Jaime. "Masters of the Universe: Moche Artists and Their Patrons." In Golden Kingdoms: Luxury Arts in the Ancient Americas, edited by Joanne Pillsbury, Timothy Potts, and Kim N. Richter, pp. 24-31. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2017.

Cordy-Collins, Alana. "Archaism or Tradition? The Decapitation Theme in Cupisnique and Early Moche Iconography." Latin American Antiquity 3, 1992, pp. 207-219.

Donnan, Christopher B. "Moche State Religion." In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 47-69. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2010.

Kaulicke, Peter. "The Vicús-Mochica Relationship." In Andean Archaeology III, edited by William H. Isbell and Helene H. Silverman, pp. 85-111. Boston, MA: Springer, 2006.