Work

Emerging from the Mountain Cave: A New Proposed Narrative for a Cave Opening Sequence in Moche Mountain Sacrifice Scenes

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Reconstructions of Moche ritual sacrifice have relied heavily on iconographic depictions of elaborate rituals conducted on mountains and sacrifices at adobe temples. Scholars have categorized mountain scenes, proposed that Huaca de la Luna symbolized sacred mountains, and argued that one of the main mountain scenes entails the liberation of a figure known as Dios A. However, the large corpus of mountain iconography remains underanalyzed, and few existing publications incorporate data from mountainside sites. In this article, I propose a more specific Mountainside Sacrifice and Cave Opening mythic narrative encoded in these scenes, comparable to the Presentation Theme / Sacrifice Ceremony. I argue that future surveys and excavations must include thorough investigations of north coast mountains of Peru.

Source: Latin American Antiquity

DOI: 10.1017/laq.2026.10185

Author: Christopher Selwyn Wai

Institution: University of Toronto

Language: English

Topic: Latin American history and culture

Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550

Funders: University of Toronto, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada