ABSTRACT Title of Document: THE ARCHITECTURAL VESSELS OF THE MOCHE OF PERU (C.E. 200-850): ARCHITECTURE FOR THE AFTERLIFE Juliet Wiersema, Ph.D., 2010 Directed By: Joanne Pillsbury, Department of Art History and Archaeology This dissertation investigates sculpted representations of ritual architecture produced by the Moche (C.E. 200-850), a complex and socially-stratified society occupying Peru’s north coast centuries before the formation of the Inca Empire. My study focuses on a single artifact type—the Moche architectural vessel—a portable fine ware ceramic container with a stirrup-shaped handle and straight spout which supports a miniature modeled building. Moche architectural vessels mimic the form of structures and features identified in full-scale Moche architecture. When discovered scientifically, these objects accompany elite burials found within or in close proximity to Moche ritual architecture, or huacas. For art historians and archaeologists, these portable artifacts constitute one of the most important sources of data on Moche ritual architecture and as such, permit us a more nuanced understanding of ancient ceremonial structures which have been compromised by centuries of erosion, treasure hunting, and cataclysmic events. While Moche architectural vessels have been considered simple and somewhat generic representations of temples or temple complexes, my study suggests these objects instead relay explicit information about geographically, temporally, or ideologically specific ritual structures. In this dissertation, I propose a practical method for ―decoding‖ these objects and demonstrate that, once deciphered, Moche architectural vessels can elucidate the original form, function, and ideological significance of Moche ceremonial architecture. My research draws upon several disciplines including art history, anthropology, ethnography, and ethnomusicology. Important contributions include the assembly of the first Moche architectural vessel corpus (169 vessels), the creation of a detailed 10-type Moche architectural vessel typology, a new method for visualizing these objects, and the discovery that several vessels are additionally acoustic artifacts. My study presents a new investigative model, applicable to other areas in the ancient Andes and Mesoamerica, where, for millennia, ceramic representations of architecture formed an important part of burial ritual. Moche architectural vessels also engage in a cross-cultural dialogue with architectural representations made for burial by other ancient cultures around the globe, including Han Dynasty China, Middle Kingdom Egypt, Iron Age Italy, Ancient West Mexico, and Aztec Mexico. They also illuminate the rich potential of ceremonial objects made by advanced societies without text-based histories. THE ARCHITECTURAL VESSELS OF THE MOCHE OF PERU (C.E. 200-850): ARCHITECTURE FOR THE AFTERLIFE By Juliet B. Wiersema Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Dr. Joanne Pillsbury, Chair Dr. Regina Harrison Dr. Shannen Hill Dr. Yui Suzuki Dr. Marjorie Venit © Copyright by [Juliet B. Wiersema] [2010] Disclaimer The thesis or dissertation document that follows has had referenced material removed in respect for the owner's copyright. A complete version of this document, which includes said referenced material, resides in the University of Maryland, College Park's library collection. ii Acknowledgements This dissertation represents a scholarly endeavor as well as a personal journey. First, I thank my adviser, Joanne Pillsbury, for agreeing to take me on as a graduate student and also for shepherding me through the dissertation process. The idea to focus on Andean architectural vessels was her suggestion and under her tutelage I was encouraged to build the first corpus of Moche architectural vessels, looking to other ancient cultures for parallels and insights. She graciously shared with me information and images and her support in seeking outside fellowships was critical to the success of the project as was the eagle-eye she directed toward improving the present manuscript. I also thank my committee, Dr. Marjorie Venit, who has been a valuable source of support and wisdom during the final years of this process and Shannen Hill, Yui Suzuki, and Regina Harrison who took valuable time to carefully read the manuscript, providing thoughtful and constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement. While unaware of it at the time, I was first exposed to Moche ceramics by my grandparents, George and Merle Simonds, who brought back pre-Columbian artifacts from their trips to Peru, Colombia, and Mexico and placed them within reach of curious children. Much of their collection was given to the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, but their favorite pieces filled their Hayward home and were considered by all of us to be silent members of the family. It was not until the Rafael Larco Herrera collection traveled to the De Young Museum in 1997 that I was reintroduced to these familiar objects from my past. While the exhibition (The Spirit of Ancient Peru) prepared the soil, the seeds would not sprout for another few iii years. First, I would spend years preparing my application for graduate school, having never studied art history as an undergraduate and returning to academia after a ten- year hiatus. A lot of people assisted me in this important transition. I am grateful to Lynn Orr at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco for allowing me to intern under her direction and for entrusting me with such a fascinating project. Classes with Agathe Bennich at City College of San Francisco revealed how engrossing the study of art history could be. Larry Silver at University of Pennsylvania also deserves special mention for his encouragement and support at this pivotal time. I am grateful also to Michael Penwarden and Judy Closson for their optimism and encouragement on the first leg of what would be a rather long trip. Seeking first a solid foundation in art history, I enrolled at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. I am deeply grateful for the friends I made there -- Pamela Huckins, Maya Muratov, Eleni Drakaki, Edmund Ryder, and John Campbell. Their support, perspective, and their company during necessary moments of alcohol-induced release pulled me through an unexpectedly tumultuous two years. I also thank Colin Eisler, Heidi King, Julie Jones, Barbara Mundy, Anna Blume, and Eloise Quiñones Keber for their guidance, support, and academic training. Diana Fane I thank for advice and for an introduction to Nancy Rosoff, to whom I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the ancient American ceramics collections at the Brooklyn Museum. It was in New York at Bobst Library, seeking a brief escape from the marketing practices of Artemisia Gentileschi (the topic of my IFA qualifying paper), that I happened upon the F3430 aisle and the book, The Royal Tombs of Sipán. This iv book would have a profound impact on my next seven years. I sent a congratulatory email to the book’s co-author, Christopher Donnan, and to my great surprise, he wrote me back! It would be another year before I officially switched my focus from Spanish Baroque painting to Moche pottery, but Chris is to credit for being the first to engage me in the wonderful world of Moche art. He has been a tremendously generous mentor from the beginning, inviting me to initiate research at the Moche Archive at UCLA and arming me with unpublished manuscripts, field reports, books, images, ideas, methodologies, data, and even cabrito. Much of this work, including the methodology and many of the conclusions, was shaped thanks to ongoing discussions with him. A second person influential in my defection from the world of Western art history to that of the Moche of Peru was Jeffrey Quilter, then director of Pre- Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks. In 2001, I attended my first Dumbarton Oaks symposium. At lunch, I was fortunate to share a table with the host of the show. Jeff introduced me to scholars and presented a good case for undertaking Moche research. He suggested I make a reconnaissance trip around Peru, which I did in 2002. While there, Jeff offered up north coast hospitality, some very excellent causa, and my first glimpse of excavation life at a Moche site. Jeff has been a source of sage professional advice ever since. Santiago Uceda has also played a tremendously important role in this research. Since my introduction to him at PUCP’s field school at Huaca de la Luna in 2004, Santiago has been gracious and munificent in his support of this project, introducing me to the excavations and the architecture at Huaca de la Luna, supplying v me with field reports of and images from the excavation’s history, as well as sharing his own interpretations and insights about the site and the architecture. I am also grateful to Moises Tufinio at Huaca de la Luna who was very generous with his time and extensive knowledge of the site. Conversations with him, over chelas at the site cantina after hours, enabled me to better understand the complex architectural phases in evidence and how the space would have been processed in antiquity. At the field school, I had the pleasure of sharing an excavation pit with Sandra Sanchez, who has become a great friend and ally. I am also thankful for the presence that summer of Suzanne Garrett, Matt Rarey, Ryan Clasby, and Whitney Mihel whose excavation antics were both hilarious and intellectually stimulating. Claude Chauchat, Belkys Gutiérrez, and Claude Chapdelaine provided me with data and photographs critical to this study. Talks and site walks with Enrique Zavaleta underscored for me the important relationship between ceremonial architecture and burial. Also in Peru, Luis Jaime Castillo was generous with his data on the dozens of architectural maquettes his team has excavated at San José de Moro. These data included field reports, drawings, and access to the objects themselves.