Culture · Early Intermediate Period

Moche

100–800 CE, South America — Andes

The Moche ruled the north coast of Peru from about 100 to 800 CE, building the adobe Huacas del Sol and de la Luna and the royal tombs at Sipán. They were master potters and metalsmiths whose portrait vessels and painted fine-line scenes record their world in detail. Collectors hold stirrup-spout bottles, portrait heads, florero bowls, mould-made figurines, copper and gilded copper ornaments and beads, with the finest vessels and all Sipán-type gold being the most looted and restricted material in South America.

Dates	100–800 CE
Period	Early Intermediate Period
Region	South America — Andes
Areas	North Coast of Peru
Typical objects	Bottle, Vessel, Figurine, Bead
Typical materials	Terracotta, Gold, Silver, Native copper

Identification

Moche pottery is red and cream slipped, mould-made, with stirrup spouts whose shape changes across five phases; fine-line painting shows warriors, deities and ritual scenes. Portrait vessels, erotic vessels, and effigy animals are famous. Metalwork uses gilded copper, gold-silver alloys and turquoise inlay.

Legality

Moche material is Peruvian national patrimony with export prohibited, and the CPIA import restriction with Peru has been in force since 1997 and renewed since. Sipán looting in 1987 triggered emergency US import restrictions, and objects resembling Sipán finds are presumed illicit.

Reproductions and fakes

Moche vessels are intensively faked in Trujillo and Lima, both from modern moulds and from ancient moulds, and genuine plain vessels are repainted with fine-line scenes. Fakes show clean, unweathered slip, no root marks or salt bloom, and often absurd subjects. Thermoluminescence and a hard look at provenance are essential.

Photographs

Moche — Stirrup-spout bottle with mountain sacrifice scene — Moche, 500–800 CE — Stirrup-spout bottle with mountain sacrifice scene — Moche, 500–800 CE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Cummings, 1964, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, CC0

Moche — Nose ornament in the shape of a head — Moche, 500-800 CE — Nose ornament in the shape of a head — Moche, 500-800 CE — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, CC0

Elsewhere

met: 308532
Wikidata: Q208188
Wikipedia: Moche culture

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Moche" (Culture). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/study/cultures/moche. Accessed 2026-09-21.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-moche,
  title        = {Moche},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/cultures/moche}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Culture article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, wikidata, met. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.

Identification

Legality

Reproductions and fakes

Photographs

Age

Materials

Collecting rules

Typical types

Elsewhere