The Narrative Approach to Moche Iconography

This paper develops ideas first presented in "The Moche Revolt of the Objects" (Quilter 1990). It suggests that while the thematic approach to Moche iconography is useful, application of an approach that assumes that the themes are segments of a narrative will increase our understanding of the myths behind Moche art. After discussing the basis on which narrative may be inferred from art, the narrative approach is applied to demonstrate how known Moche artistic themes may be placed in sequence. Some previous uncertainties regarding iconographic figures are resolved, and part of the Moche mythic corpus is presented.