Stirrup-spout bottle with mountain ritual

Moche ceremonies were performed on temple platforms and other sacred places in the landscape, like mountains. The temples could be multitiered and monumental in scale, some even boasted a spiral ramp leading to a summit where a dignitary would preside. Here, a figure wearing a feline headdress and serpent belt plays a conch trumpet next to a lifeless body draped over a mountain peak, seemingly calling to creatures of the wild.