Nose ornament with decapitator

This ornament is one of a large number of metal objects said to have been found at a site or sites now called Loma Negra, near Piura in the far north of Peru, close to the Ecuadorean border. The numerous small tabs in back suggest that it was once attached to a nose ornament, probably of silver (see MMA 1979.206.1236 for the type of construction). The overlay features a figure frequently depicted in Moche iconography known as the Decapitator.

This figure holds a trophy head in his left hand and a ceremonial knife, called a tumi, in his right hand. Cut from a sheet of gilded copper, the overlay was then worked from behind (repoussé) to add additional detail. The nose was formed from a separate piece of metal sheet, rounded out and attached by two tabs, one at the top and one at the bottom. The four rays, each bisected with an inscribed line, emanate outward from the figure; such rays are thought to represent the eight legs of a spider (Alva, 2008; Cordy-Collins, 1992). The figure wears a conical headdress with six curving flares. The eyes are inlaid with turquoise with black stone pupils, and his double earflares (sometimes called figure-eight ear ornaments) are decorated with turquoise inlays. He has an oval-shaped silver nose ornament adorned with a border of tiny spheres. The figure wears a sleeveless tunic with a fringe of alternating gold and inlaid turquoise triangles. Other elements were also likely inlaid, including the mouth, the figure’s loincloth, the tumi, the eye of the trophy head, and the end of each ray. The figure’s tunic and spider legs are covered with gilded dangles, each held by a thin wire loop that comes through from the back of the figure.

The significance of the association of the Decapitator with spiders is unknown, put perhaps the manner in which 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).

The Moche (also known as the Mochicas) flourished on Peru’s North Coast from 200-900 CE, centuries before the rise of the Inca (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, developing coastal deserts into rich farmlands and drawing upon the abundant maritime resources of the Pacific Ocean’s Humboldt Current. Although the exact nature of Moche political organization is a subject of scholarly debate—some believe it was a single, unified state, others suggest there were multiple polities—it is clear they shared unifying cultural traits such as religious practices (Donnan, 2010).

Loma Negra was the most northern outpost of Moche culture. Loma Negra works in metal share similar iconography with ceramics and metalwork found at Moche sites farther to the south, such as Úcupe (Bourget, 2014). The precise relationship between the Loma Negra and the Moche “heartland” remains a subject of debate, however (Kaulicke, 2006).

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 ancient. 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.

Disselhoff, Hans-Dietrich. "Metallschmuck aus der Loma Negra, Vicus (Nord-Peru)." Antike Welt vol. 3 (1972), pp. 43–53.

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.

Jones, Julie. "Mochica Works of Art in Metal: A Review." In Pre-Columbian Metallurgy of South America, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson, pp. 53-104. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1979.

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.

Lechtman, Heather, Antonieta Erling, and Edward J. Barry Jr. "New Perspectives on Moche Metallurgy: Techniques of Gilding Copper at Loma Negra, Northern Peru." American Antiquity vol. 47 (1982), pp. 3-30.

Ríos, Marcela and Enrique Retamozo. “Investigaciones sobre la metalurgia Vicús.” Gaceta Arqueológica Andina VII, no. 23 (1993), pp. 33-66.