Existing Member?

VagabondsUSA "TRAVEL IS FATAL TO PREJUDICE, BIGOTRY AND NARROW MINDEDNESS." MARK TWAIN

Pre-Inca Peru: El Brujo

PERU | Monday, 27 January 2025 | Views [55]

Señora de Cao, El Brujo Archeological Complex

Señora de Cao, El Brujo Archeological Complex

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.

m

                  El Brujo, The Sorcerer

m

                      The Decapitator, one bad dude

m

                  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.

nn

                       El Brujo Museum

b

         Moche Textiles

bb

                Ceramic Toad, El Brujo Museum

nn

         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.

n

                    This way to the temple

m

                   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.

n

              POWs tied together

n

                      POWs being carried to the priest, El Brujo Museum

n

                  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. 

n

                       "Corner Room" and gravesite of La Señora de Cao

n

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

n

                        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?

 

 

Add your comments

(If you have a travel question, get your Answers here)

In order to avoid spam on these blogs, please enter the code you see in the image. Comments identified as spam will be deleted.


About graynomadsusa

The Vagabonds at Cobh, Ireland

Follow Me

Where I've been

Favourites

Photo Galleries

My trip journals


See all my tags 


 

 

Travel Answers about Peru

Do you have a travel question? Ask other World Nomads.