Mochica Murals at Pañamarca - Richard Schaedel - 1951

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Fig. 1. Aerial photograph of PaĂąamarca, Nepena valley, Peru. The main ruins meas-

ure c. 200 X 250 meters. The photograph was taken from directly overhead, but the sharp drop of the fields to the northwest (lower right) gives an oblique effect. (Courtesy Servicio Aerofotografico Nacional, Peru)

MOCHICA MURALS AT PAÑAMARCA By Richard P. Schaedel Peru for as long as its archaeology has been MOCHICA known, Peru for CULTURE known, chiefly aschiefly long because as HASbecause its archaeologyof of BEENthe the excellence excellence FAMOUS has beenofIN of

Mochica ceramics. A red and white Mochica portrait-

head jar or vase with painted figures (Archaeology 3.95) is generally the most typical item that one may look for in museum collections from Peru. Although the literature on Peruvian prehistory is studded with illustrations and descriptions of Mochica pottery, it is

notoriously weak on other aspects of Mochica culture, notably architecture.

This is especially surprising in view of the fact that over fifty years ago Max Uhle identified one of the largest mud-brick structures in Peru, known as the Huaca del Sol, near Trujillo, as of Mochica construction. In 1925, after the last big rain on the Peruvian coast, some wall paintings were discovered in an adjoining ruin, known as the Huaca de la Luna, which Uhle had also identified as Mochica. One of the purposes of the study of coastal architecture which the In-

stitute of Anthropology of the University of Trujillo carried out last year, with the aid of a grant from the 145

Autumn 1951

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