BASED UPON THE CARVINGS AT EL BRUJO, the Moche weren’t the friendliest people—pretty much what you would expect from people ruled by Warrior-Priests who worshipped a god known as Decapitator at a site called El Brujo (sorcerer) by the Spanish priests for the rituals conducted by Shamans there.

El Brujo, The Sorcerer

The Decapitator, one bad dude

The Decapitator in living color
The Moche lived on the coastal deserts of northern Peru between 200 BCE and 700 AD where they were fishermen, weavers, potters, metalsmiths and farmers, having developed irrigation techniques that allowed them to turn the desert into productive farmland. There are examples of textiles from El Brujo in the small but wonderful museum along with ceramics, jewelry and flutes made from the bones of captured prisoners.

El Brujo Museum

Moche Textiles

Ceramic Toad, El Brujo Museum

Flutes made from bones of POWs
The main attraction are the murals and carvings in Huaca Cao Viejo pyramid. Though worn by exposure to the elements, some of the color remains and you can still make out the reliefs of fish, birds and prisoners tied together.

This way to the temple

Friezes in the main platform
War seems to have been an important part of Moche culture—and they had a pretty good record. Captive warriors were treated with respect . . . right up until their heads were cleaved and their blood shared by the victors.

POWs tied together

POWs being carried to the priest, El Brujo Museum

Ritual sacrifice of prisoners
After severe weather events new levels were added to Huaca Cao to appease the obviously angry gods, which may explain why the tomb and mummy-bundle of the Señora de Cao, the Lady of Cao, wasn’t discovered until 2005.

"Corner Room" and gravesite of La Señora de Cao

Grave Goods and holographic mummy of La Señora de Cao, El Brujo Museum

High-tech recreation of La Señora de Cao
Because the 1,500-year old tattooed woman was elaborately buried with crowns, jewelry and weapons, archeologists think she may have been a leader in the Moche culture, a first in pre-Incan times. A hologram of the actual mummy floats eerily back in the museum along with a series showing how forensic-archeologists went about creating her likeness. Who’d a thunk it?