simple facts
Name: Nose ornament with decapitator
What is it: gold-plated copper nosepiece
Birthplace: Peru
Created: Between 200 and 900 AD
This gilt-bronze nosepiece was discovered at the Loma Negra ruins in northern Peru and depicts the important Moche god Ai Apaec, also known as the Beheader. The decorations are inlaid with turquoise and black stone accents for students.
The Moche people, also known as the Mochica people, lived on the northern coast of Peru from 200 to 900 AD, before the rise of the Inca Empire. This gemstone was discovered in Loma Negra, a rich Moche ruin near the Ecuadorian border. Hundreds of gold, silver, and copper artifacts were looted from Loma Negra’s tomb in the late 1960s, many of which were eventually donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, including this ornament.
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The decapitator ornament measures 2.8 x 3.9 inches (7 x 10 centimeters) and is made from a sheet of gold-plated copper. Semi-precious stones accentuate the decapitator’s eyes, earrings, and belt. Ai Apek also wears a large silver nose ornament. This small figurine was probably attached to a piece of silver so that someone could wear it as a nosepiece. However, most of Loma Negra’s artifacts were looted from tombs, so it is unclear whether this ornament was associated with a specific person.
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Archaeologists have discovered that the Moche practiced human sacrifice to honor their gods. This ritual was performed for political reasons, such as killing captured enemies, but recent research has found that family members were also sometimes sacrificed to higher-ranking relatives.
Decapitators are closely associated with spiders in Moche iconography, but experts don’t know exactly why. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “The spider’s method of trapping its prey in its web and liquefying its internal organs was probably similar to the Moche custom of capturing captives and sacrificing them by bloodletting.”
For more amazing archaeological discoveries, check out our Astonishing Artifacts archive.
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