Moche Civilization
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of Moche ceramic vessels, dating from AD 200 to 700, which derive from the pre-Columbian Moche culture of north Peru. This collection comprises some of the first Peruvian ceramics known to be mould-made, the most common form of which are stirrup-spouted vessels. The ceramics were often made of terracotta and typically had minimal painted decoration, which usually consisted of red or white slip with black painted details. Additional features or designs were sculpted into the material or added using roller stamps. Early Moche pottery is defined by its subject matter, which encompassed every aspect of the people’s lives, beliefs, activities and the natural environment. Late Moche, about 500 years after, is characterized by increasingly globular bottle chambers. These provided large surfaces for fine line painting of complex action scenes, depicting common motifs such as masked dog-faced warriors, jaguars and birds of prey. The Moche culture flourished on the northern coast of modern-day Peru. It was a civilization sustained by an advanced irrigation system, which produced skilled and sophisticated craft goods and giant stepped pyramids.
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