COLLECTION NAME:
Undergraduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
The Coca Taker Archetype: A Narrative Interpretation of Moche Ceramic Iconography
Creator:
Lum, Marissa
Subject:
Thesis (B.F.A.) -- Art History
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Art History
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"The ancient Andean peoples known as the Moche lived along Peru's northern coast from approximately 100–800 CE. The Moche peoples are most widely recognized today for their finely crafted ceramics. While the Moche did not use a formal writing system, they recorded the myths and histories of their society through their art. Moche ceramic stirrup-spout bottles depict a variety of subjects and evidence the use of a vibrant functioning sign system. Interpreting the iconography of Moche art remains a challenge for modern scholars. This thesis addresses two existing analytical approaches: the thematic and the narrative, proposed by archaeologist Christopher B. Donnan and anthropologist Jeffrey Quilter, respectively. The thematic Approach groups Moche iconographic elements into themes, and the narrative approach attempts to sequence those themes – both, however, focus predominately on Moche fineline vessels. As a compromise that draws from the strengths and addresses the weaknesses of both of these approaches, I propose that Moche sculptural ceramics depict an archetypal narrative system. One undertheorized narrative involves participants in and actions of the Coca Ceremony, an enigmatic ritual involving the consumption of entheogenic coca leaves. The visual culture of the Coca Ceremony includes a subset of ceramic sculptures that depict elite figures ‘taking coca.’ Archaeologist Steve Bourget has related these Coca Taker figures to a narrative of sacrifice, but the extent of their narrative implication deserves further examination. Although coca is deeply significant to ancient Andean cultures, its ritual usage as depicted in the Moche ceramic record has not been fully studied. Using art historical visual analysis, archaeological data and scholarship, and ethnographic parallels, this thesis seeks to elucidate the narrative of the ancient Moche Coca Ceremony, and in doing so, the deeper meanings signified by the ceramic sculptures of its participants." --Abstract
Keywords: Moche, ceramics, sculpture, iconography, ancient Andean art, Peru, coca
Keywords: Moche, ceramics, sculpture, iconography, ancient Andean art, Peru, coca
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia: Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2019-08
Format:
1 online resource: 1 PDF (Thesis, 107 pages, color illustrations, map)