FREE ESSAY ON ANCIENT PERUVIAN CERAMICS OF THE NORTH COAST

ANCIENT PERUVIAN CERAMICS OF THE NORTH COAST

Ancient Peruvian Ceramics of the North Coast
March 11, 1997
The first pottery pieces found in Peru were made somewhere between 1500 and 1000 b.p. The
pieces were found in the central Andean region where a religious cult lived. This cult
was called Chavin, after the best known ceremonial center, Chavin de Huantar. The
religious center was the home to massive temples that were highly embellished with low
relief sculptures of gods, animals, and symbols. The pottery found in the area where
vessels that were well made and highly decorated with a similar motif as the temples. But
the evolution of Peruvian pottery becomes somewhat confusing and complex after this first
civilization of potters. There is a division of people into the North Coast and the South
Coast. The split created two styles of pottery, although similar, they never quite merge.
I am only going to talk about the north coast traditions. 
On the North coast there are five cultures that evolve into the dominant Mochica style,
which was one of the most vigorous and prosperous cultures of Ancient Peru. The next
earliest North Coast style, other than the Chavin, started with the Cupisnique people in
the Chicama valley. Their ceramics "closely resembled those of highland Chavin. They were
well made and polished, though somewhat thick walled and heavy. The type of firing used
produced a dark semireduced ware that varied from brownish gray to carbon black in color.
Decoration consisted of bold, curvilinear human, feline, and birds of pray heads, eye
patterns, pelt markings, and other brief symbols of geometric devices." 
In the valley to the south of the Cupisnique were the Salinar people who sometime during
the fifth century b.p. moved into the north coast of Peru and spread its influence
throughout the Cupisnique area. Salinar pottery, "though deceptively primitive in
ornamentation, was technologically superior to that of the Cupisnique. Vessels were made
of well-prepared clays that were fully oxidized in firing, making them an even orange
color. Cream and red slips were used to accentuate sculptural forms and create flat
geometric patterns, but not to draw figurative motifs. The technical advances of the
controlled oxidation firing and slip decoration soon had their effect on contemporary
Cupisnique ceramics." Personally, I enjoyed the bottle forms they used with their double
strap handles that lead from the shoulder of the forms to the one central spout. (see
figures 1 and 2). This style of vessel seems to continue throughout the centuries.
Three other cultures in north coast valleys contributed their pottery style to the over
all Cusisnique style that was evolving into the Mochica style. These people were the
Gallinazo, Recuay, and Vicus. The Gallinazo constructed double chamber vessels with
whistle spouts and a type of decoration called negative decoration where they painted
their simple designs on after the pieces were fired. The Recuay also had double chamber
vessels but these had one functioning spout and one sculpted, usually an animal or
figure. They also used negative decoration but theirs were much more elaborate designs
than the Gallinazo vessels. The Vicus lived in the highlands on the Ecuadorian border.
They made very sculptural vessels with a stirrup handle and central spout. (see figures
3, 4, and 5) Although a hand full of Vicus artifacts have been found, not much is known
about these people, but one can see a visible connection between all of these different
cultures and the Mochica style that evolved out of them.
The Mochica civilization flourished for nearly 1000 years and as time passed slight
changes in the style could be seen and are chronologically separated into Mochica I-V.
The first two are formative phases with lots of experimentation. The third concentrated
on a distinctive art style, which continued through the forth and gradually declined in
the fifth. They expressed many aspects of their culture and daily life in their ceramics.
Things like warriors, runners (people who run bags of beans were important to the
ceremonial life), portraits, religion, gods, and animals were shown on vessels.
Mochica I was a strong continuation of the late Cupisnique sculptural style. The forms
are compact with little suggestion of action, and details are often rendered in incised
lines. Faces are generalized, but individual personages are differentiated by costume and
accessories, and by distinctive physical traits. The style was not very elaborate. Some
slip painting was done and the simple designs were sometimes accented by incised lines.
The designs are similar to those of the Salinar, but they sometimes used the geometric
designs of the Recuay.
In Mochica II they mastered the art of slip decoration and oxidation firing. The
ornamentation continued to stay predominantly geometric with some figurative motifs. They
did have some relief-decorated ceramics which "incorporated two concave sections made in
the same mold, usually joined by a bread band of clay into which the stirrup spout was
inserted." This mold technique is first type seen in this culture. (figure 6) It
continues to be used for all sculptural vessels. Sometimes the vessels would require two
or more molds, some they used one mold twice. For highly ornamented vessels they would
add headdresses and arms after the vessel was assembled and before it was fired.
The Mochica III style used much more modeling of the forms and began to lean towards more
realistic representations. They began to create highly polished black reduction wares.
The oxidized orange ware with cream and red slip decoration was also being used in
conjunction with the black ware. This was also the time in history when the Mochica
peoples moved out of Moche and Chicama valleys and began to dominate neighboring groups
by either military or religious conquests. 
By the Mochica IV period they had an extensive kingdom established and it brought
together the peoples of all the north coast valleys. The ceramics were decorated in
flowing, expressive lines and the modeled vessels showed attention to individual detailed
ornamentation. But the creative flow in the ceramic styles was hindered somewhat because
of a strict militant rule of the warrior-priest class that was beginning. Yet this was
still the most creative time for the Mochica people.
The final period in Mochica ceramics, due to a collapse of the culture, brought an abrupt
termination of the great art tradition that it had expressed so well. The vessels found
from this period show a carelessness in painting designs, and less attention to details
in the sculptural forms. Many of the figures modeled in to the vessels were warriors
dressed for combat. The decline in quality that can be observed, and the nervousness and
tension that were expressed in their designs and forms was related to the pressure from
the militant expansionist group, the Wari. The struggle between the Mochica and the Wari,
was long and fierce, ending in a total collapse of their culture and a loss a 1200 year
ceramic tradition.