 
The Moche (Peoples of America)
Average Rating: 2.5 Total Reviews: 2
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 On: 2006-10-14
Garth Bawden does an adequate job detailing the people known as the Moche. In his book: Moche (The Peoples of America) he takes you through the beginning of these people lost. They built huge and bizarre pyramids that still dominate the surrounding countryside; some well over a hundred feet tall. Many are so heavily eroded they look like natural hills; only close up can you see they are made up of millions of mud bricks. Several of the pyramids, known as huacas, meaning sacred site in the local Indian dialect, contain rich collections of murals depicting both secular and sacred scenes from the Moche world. Others house the elaborate tombs of Moche leaders. Out in the desert, archaeologists have also found the 2,000-year-old remains of an extensive system of mud brick aqueducts which enabled the Moche to tame their desert environment. Many are still in use today. Indeed there are signs that the Moche irrigated a larger area of land than farmers in Peru do now.
But who were the Moche? How did they create such an apparently successful civilization in the middle of the desert, what kind of a society was it, and why did it disappear? For decades it was one of the greatest archaeological riddles in South America. But now at last, scientists are beginning to come up with answers. As archaeologists have excavated at Moche sites theyve unearthed some of the most fabulous pottery and jewelry ever to emerge from an ancient civilization. All very well illustrated in Joanne Pillsburys Moche Art and Archaeology in Ancient Peru. The Moche were pioneers of metal working techniques like gilding and early forms of soldering. These skills enabled them to create extraordinarily intricate artifacts; earrings and necklaces, nose rings and helmets, many heavily inlaid with gold and precious stones.
But it was the pottery that gave the archaeologists their first real insight into Moche life. The Moche left no written record but they did leave a fabulous account of their life and times in paintings on pots and vessels. Many show everyday events and objects such as people, fish, birds and other animals. Others show scenes from what, at first sight, look like a series of battles. But as the archaeologists studied them more closely they realized they werent ordinary battles; all the soldiers were dressed alike, the same images were repeated time and again. When the battle was won, the vanquished were ritually sacrificed; their throats cut, the blood drained into a cup and the cup drunk by a God-like deity. It was, the archaeologists slowly realized, a story not of war but ritual combat followed by human sacrifice.
On: 2006-06-10
Garth Bawden starts to point out that a civilization does not have a certain date at which it starts nor ends. The Moche people also had their ancestors and evolved into a new civilization. This all happened in different timeframes in the northern, middle and southern part of their reign. Garth has little concern for ceramics but has many theories to prove his view. The book is devided in the social part of the moche and the second part about their origins (shouldnt this be the way around?). In all there are many dublicates in both parts. This means that the book is rather hard to read. The end of the book is also less elaborate, as if he wanted to end this torture. Certainly not suited for your first aquitance with the Moche, but it has some interesting chapters. The photos are of very poor quality.
On: 2006-06-09
Garth Bawden starts to point out that a civilization does not have a certain date at which it starts nor ends. The Moche people also had their ancestors and evolved into a new civilization. This all happened in different timeframes in the northern, middle and southern part of their reign. Garth has little concern for ceramics but has many theories to prove his view. The book is devided in the social part of the moche and the second part about their origins (shouldnt this be the way around?). In all there are many dublicates in both parts. This means that the book is rather hard to read. The end of the book is also less elaborate, as if he wanted to end this torture. Certainly not suited for your first aquitance with the Moche, but it has some interesting chapters. The photos are of very poor quality.
by: victorkaftal On: 2005-08-26
Bawden is often quoted for his archaelogical studies of the North of Peru, so I bought his book in advance of my tourist trip to the Moche sites, of which I knew next to nothing. I spent many disappointing hours trying to study this book but I was not able even to finish it. The book is terribly dry and while it is not strictly limited to a list of archeological finds, that is clearly the forte of the author. The style is way more awkward than the average scholarly text, the photos of which there are many are absolutely substandard (this must be the fault of the printer). But more substantially, I came out of my struggle with this book without even a half way understanding of what distinguished the Moche from the previous civilizations, from the contemporary ones, and from those that followed it. If you are serious in wanting to study the Moche, I am sure that this could be a useful addition to your text list, but if you want to read just one book, choose something else.
by: victorkaftal On: 2005-08-25
Bawden is often quoted for his archaelogical studies of the North of Peru, so I bought his book in advance of my tourist trip to the Moche sites, of which I knew next to nothing. I spent many disappointing hours trying to study this book but I was not able even to finish it. The book is terribly dry and while it is not strictly limited to a list of archeological finds, that is clearly the forte of the author. The style is way more awkward than the average scholarly text, the photos of which there are many are absolutely substandard (this must be the fault of the printer). But more substantially, I came out of my struggle with this book without even a half way understanding of what distinguished the Moche from the previous civilizations, from the contemporary ones, and from those that followed it. If you are serious in wanting to study the Moche, I am sure that this could be a useful addition to your text list, but if you want to read just one book, choose something else.
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