Personal attire was a significant mark of status for ancient Peruvians—for example, large ear ornaments were restricted to nobles. When the Spanish invaded they called them orejones, which they also used to describe the Inca elite who wore them.¹ To prepare their ears for wearing these ornaments, Incans inserted a thick piece of wood through their earlobe in order to stretch it. It has been noted that at times this could reach as low as the shoulder. The larger the lobe, the greater the rank of the individual.² The name ‘orejones’ also meant ‘big-ears’, and is still a term used to describe other indigenous tribes in Peru who wear similar ear ornamentation.³

In 1847, the American historian William H. Prescott described 
the ceremony in which the young Incans had their ears pierced, in his History of the conquest of Peru:

The novices (candidates for the order of chivalry) then drew near, and, kneeling one by one before the Inca, he pierced their ears with a golden bodkin, and this was suffered to remain there till an opening had been made large enough for the enormous pendants which were peculiar to their order, and which gave them, with the Spaniards, the name of ‘Orejones’. This ornament was so massive in the ears of the sovereign that the cartilage was distended by it nearly to the shoulder, producing what seemed a monstrous deformity in the eyes of the Europeans, though under the magical influence of fashion, it was regarded as a beauty by the natives.⁴

Unlike modern earrings, these ornaments were more like spools or plugs. Large circular-fronted discs were most common amongst the Moche, and were often decorated with elaborate inlay. The frontal section was counterbalanced by long tubes that went through the earlobe. Sometimes these would be made with wood, but often they were hollow tubes of gold.

These two sets of circular inlaid ear ornaments are edged with gold beads. One pair shows a bird-headed figure, distinguished by a red and cream loincloth in spondylus shell and mother-of-pearl. This is an avatar of the Owl Warrior or Plate-shirt God, who is the supernatural leader in warfare and celebrated for his role in the capture of prisoners for sacrifice. His beak is tipped with gold, and he carries a spear and shield in one hand and, in the other, a bag with a gold bead inside—possibly representing a trophy head.⁵ The figure wears typical Moche apparel: headdress with plumes, circular ear ornaments and loincloth. His headdress has two feline heads at the top and the back, also worn by the Moche deity Wrinkle Face. The second inlaid pair has a complex schematic motif of lizards. Gold lizards are shown on blue stone wedges, next to blue lizards on conch wedges. Each lizard has an eye made of the complementary stone: blue on white and gold on blue.

These colourful decorations were made with a combination of stones and shells such as turquoise, sodalite, quartz, pyrite, spondylus and mother-of-pearl or conch shell. Small pieces of stone or shell were attached to the gold base with a natural resin combined with an inorganic powder to thicken it. Metal was also inlaid into other metal, sometimes silver into gold, using the same adhesive method.⁶

Simeran Maxwell

1. Catherine Julien, Reading Inca history, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press 2000, pp. 28–29.

2. Antonio Raimondy, ‘On the Indian tribes of the great district of Loreto, in northern Peru’, Wm. Bollaert (trans.), Anthropological Review, vol. 1, no. 1, May 1863, p. 35.

3. Joshua Rutland, ‘The big-ears’, The Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 6, no. 4, December 1897, p. 214.

4. Quoted in Rutland, p. 214.

5. This has also been referred to as a slingshot. Heidi King, cats 148 and 149, in Kathleen Berrin (ed.), The spirit of ancient Peru: Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera, London: Thames and Hudson 1997, p. 199.

6. Deborah Schorsch, ‘Silver-and-gold Moche artefacts from Loma Negra, Peru’, Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 33, 1998, p. 117.

Personal attire was a significant mark of status for ancient Peruvians—for example, large ear ornaments were restricted to nobles. When the Spanish invaded they called them orejones, which they also used to describe the Inca elite who wore them.¹ To prepare their ears for wearing these ornaments, Incans inserted a thick piece of wood through their earlobe in order to stretch it. It has been noted that at times this could reach as low as the shoulder. The larger the lobe, the greater the rank of the individual.² The name ‘orejones’ also meant ‘big-ears’, and is still a term used to describe other indigenous tribes in Peru who wear similar ear ornamentation.³

In 1847, the American historian William H. Prescott described 
the ceremony in which the young Incans had their ears pierced, in his History of the conquest of Peru:

The novices (candidates for the order of chivalry) then drew near, and, kneeling one by one before the Inca, he pierced their ears with a golden bodkin, and this was suffered to remain there till an opening had been made large enough for the enormous pendants which were peculiar to their order, and which gave them, with the Spaniards, the name of ‘Orejones’. This ornament was so massive in the ears of the sovereign that the cartilage was distended by it nearly to the shoulder, producing what seemed a monstrous deformity in the eyes of the Europeans, though under the magical influence of fashion, it was regarded as a beauty by the natives.⁴

Unlike modern earrings, these ornaments were more like spools or plugs. Large circular-fronted discs were most common amongst the Moche, and were often decorated with elaborate inlay. The frontal section was counterbalanced by long tubes that went through the earlobe. Sometimes these would be made with wood, but often they were hollow tubes of gold.

These two sets of circular inlaid ear ornaments are edged with gold beads. One pair shows a bird-headed figure, distinguished by a red and cream loincloth in spondylus shell and mother-of-pearl. This is an avatar of the Owl Warrior or Plate-shirt God, who is the supernatural leader in warfare and celebrated for his role in the capture of prisoners for sacrifice. His beak is tipped with gold, and he carries a spear and shield in one hand and, in the other, a bag with a gold bead inside—possibly representing a trophy head.⁵ The figure wears typical Moche apparel: headdress with plumes, circular ear ornaments and loincloth. His headdress has two feline heads at the top and the back, also worn by the Moche deity Wrinkle Face. The second inlaid pair has a complex schematic motif of lizards. Gold lizards are shown on blue stone wedges, next to blue lizards on conch wedges. Each lizard has an eye made of the complementary stone: blue on white and gold on blue.

These colourful decorations were made with a combination of stones and shells such as turquoise, sodalite, quartz, pyrite, spondylus and mother-of-pearl or conch shell. Small pieces of stone or shell were attached to the gold base with a natural resin combined with an inorganic powder to thicken it. Metal was also inlaid into other metal, sometimes silver into gold, using the same adhesive method.⁶

Simeran Maxwell

1. Catherine Julien, Reading Inca history, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press 2000, pp. 28–29.

2. Antonio Raimondy, ‘On the Indian tribes of the great district of Loreto, in northern Peru’, Wm. Bollaert (trans.), Anthropological Review, vol. 1, no. 1, May 1863, p. 35.

3. Joshua Rutland, ‘The big-ears’, The Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 6, no. 4, December 1897, p. 214.

4. Quoted in Rutland, p. 214.

5. This has also been referred to as a slingshot. Heidi King, cats 148 and 149, in Kathleen Berrin (ed.), The spirit of ancient Peru: Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera, London: Thames and Hudson 1997, p. 199.

6. Deborah Schorsch, ‘Silver-and-gold Moche artefacts from Loma Negra, Peru’, Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 33, 1998, p. 117.