Spectacular ornaments like this were made ​​for members of the elite, from rare and exotic materials not easily accessible to common people. Such items, and the precious materials from which they were made, were prestige goods and consequently have been found in abundance in the tombs of leaders from the upper echelons of Moche society, both temporal and religious. Typically, the objects were created from or embellished with tropical sea shells, including the conch and spondylus, as well as gems like turquoise and chrysocolla. This pectoral consists entirely of thousands of tiny beads, each drilled with a minute hole. They have been laboriously strung together on 37 strands of three lengths, linked together with fine twine. Six copper spacers were inserted between the strings of beads to keep the stepped shape of the collar and the beads parallel. Although the original metal lengths have long ago disintegrated, the contemporary ones seen here mimic the look and function exactly.

The lengthy process involved in fashioning such an elaborate item, and the religious value of the spondylus shell, ensured that it would have been exclusively associated with the highest-ranking Moche. The first archaeologically excavated beaded pectorals were found in Tomb One of the Royal Tombs of Sipán in Lambayeque, laid one on top of the other. The cotton string that held the beads together and the spacer bars had disintegrated, leaving an outline of the pectorals, in reality a pile of thousands of beads.¹

The shell of the spondylus mollusc was highly prized by consecutive ancient Peruvian cultures, dating back to the Chavín. The bivalve is depicted in ceramics and appears in and on the jewellery of many cultures. Interestingly, considering the complexity and prominence of Moche illustrative pottery, no spiky spondylus has been identified in graphic form on the culture’s ceramics to date. Until the recent discovery of the Moche tomb of the Lord of Sipán, it was thought that the spondylus had become rare during the Moche period. However, scholars now argue that the shells were depicted by the Moche, but in a quite unique manner unlike any other in ancient Peruvian art: they were portrayed in the form of sacrificial cups for holding blood, associated with the Moon Priestess, the only female figure currently known to be connected with sacrificial practices. Thus the Moche use of spondylus shell indicates that it was a particularly precious and exotic material, imported from outside Moche territory and found only in ritual. Possibly the Moche connected the shell’s red colour with blood, as did the Mayans and the ancient cultures of Colombia.²

Simeran Maxwell

1. Walter Alva and Christopher B. Donnan, Royal Tombs of Sipán, Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA 1993, figs 70–71, pp. 72–73.

2. See Alana Cordy-Collins, ‘Blood and the moon priestesses: Spondylus shells in Moche ceremony’, in Elizabeth P. Benson and Anita G. Cook (eds), Ritual sacrifice in ancient Peru, Austin: University of Texas Press 2001, pp. 35–53.

Spectacular ornaments like this were made ​​for members of the elite, from rare and exotic materials not easily accessible to common people. Such items, and the precious materials from which they were made, were prestige goods and consequently have been found in abundance in the tombs of leaders from the upper echelons of Moche society, both temporal and religious. Typically, the objects were created from or embellished with tropical sea shells, including the conch and spondylus, as well as gems like turquoise and chrysocolla. This pectoral consists entirely of thousands of tiny beads, each drilled with a minute hole. They have been laboriously strung together on 37 strands of three lengths, linked together with fine twine. Six copper spacers were inserted between the strings of beads to keep the stepped shape of the collar and the beads parallel. Although the original metal lengths have long ago disintegrated, the contemporary ones seen here mimic the look and function exactly.

The lengthy process involved in fashioning such an elaborate item, and the religious value of the spondylus shell, ensured that it would have been exclusively associated with the highest-ranking Moche. The first archaeologically excavated beaded pectorals were found in Tomb One of the Royal Tombs of Sipán in Lambayeque, laid one on top of the other. The cotton string that held the beads together and the spacer bars had disintegrated, leaving an outline of the pectorals, in reality a pile of thousands of beads.¹

The shell of the spondylus mollusc was highly prized by consecutive ancient Peruvian cultures, dating back to the Chavín. The bivalve is depicted in ceramics and appears in and on the jewellery of many cultures. Interestingly, considering the complexity and prominence of Moche illustrative pottery, no spiky spondylus has been identified in graphic form on the culture’s ceramics to date. Until the recent discovery of the Moche tomb of the Lord of Sipán, it was thought that the spondylus had become rare during the Moche period. However, scholars now argue that the shells were depicted by the Moche, but in a quite unique manner unlike any other in ancient Peruvian art: they were portrayed in the form of sacrificial cups for holding blood, associated with the Moon Priestess, the only female figure currently known to be connected with sacrificial practices. Thus the Moche use of spondylus shell indicates that it was a particularly precious and exotic material, imported from outside Moche territory and found only in ritual. Possibly the Moche connected the shell’s red colour with blood, as did the Mayans and the ancient cultures of Colombia.²

Simeran Maxwell

1. Walter Alva and Christopher B. Donnan, Royal Tombs of Sipán, Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA 1993, figs 70–71, pp. 72–73.

2. See Alana Cordy-Collins, ‘Blood and the moon priestesses: Spondylus shells in Moche ceremony’, in Elizabeth P. Benson and Anita G. Cook (eds), Ritual sacrifice in ancient Peru, Austin: University of Texas Press 2001, pp. 35–53.