Introduction
We know little about ancient civilizations in comparison with the scope of information that can be learned, though we know enough to draw the conclusion. This is not supposed to be the final report on the cultural heritage of the pre-Columbian societies on the territory of the Latin America. All the civilizations are unique; they had their distinctive features, traditions, rituals, and habits; however, some features can be considered for civilizations of the same territory or of the same period in history.
Thus, visual arts are one of the aspects which can be traced in the day-to-day life and specific rituals of numerous ancient civilizations. Some tribes are known for making ceramic miniatures of their leaders and ordinary people, animals and natural environment. Ceramics can be considered one of the most common attributes of all cultures spread all over the world.
Moche Society
Moche is an ancient society that can be considered a developed one. Their culture was aimed at recording their history in the form of pots and mural imagery. “Moche pots illustrate architecture, metallurgy, weaving, the brewing of chicha (fermented maize beer), human deformities and diseases, and even sexual acts” (Kleiner 164). Some ceramics were made without any tools and technological devices, this caused their quality, and so, archeologists find the evidences of the ancient culture within the modern world.
The themes applied to the Moche vessels are numerous; they depicted the natural environment, a rich faunal and floral world around them, the members of their society, leaders, warriors, and landscapes that “seem to have ritual or symbolic significance” (Woodward 278). Rituals and everyday life are combined in pots and other vessels. Some vessels were found during the archeological excavations in tombs of leaders of the society, especially Moche portrait vessels. Portrait vessels depicted faces of people with an extraordinary accuracy and regular proportions. Nature and industry, ordinary life and ritual habits, warriors and women giving birth to their children are the most common themes applied to the Moche vessels.
The vessels were used as pots and jags, though some of them were made to be buried in the tombs of their leaders in order to accompany him in afterlife and demonstrate his high position. However, “… the primary function of the iconography was to communicate or reiterate key aspects of belief and practice and that its propagation and maintenance were somehow integral to the well-being of society” (Jackson 49). The vessels can be considered a specific source of information about the life, habits, and history of the Moche society.
The wide range of areas where the ceramic goods were used brings us to the types of vessels in terms of their purpose: “… ritual serving vessels, figurines and pendant beads, musical instruments and musicians, and ceramic tools and technology” (Jackson 53). The “Woman Giving Birth” vessel can be considered a ritual serving vessel because it depicts a woman and could be made in order to sacrifice.
A “Woman Giving Birth” vessel is a vessel similar to the ordinary pot with an unusual decoration. The scene contains a midwife that accouches a woman while the latter delivers a baby. Another woman is keeping the one in childbirth from her back. The image of the woman that brings a baby to the world is very gentle; it seems to be made with gentle feelings and accuracy. Her face is turned to the sky; she may be asking for help from their goddess of fertility.
This vessel could be made in order to offer a sacrifice to the goddess of fertility in order to conceive a healthy child and deliver it without any problems for a mother and her baby. The process of giving birth is described with an absolute accuracy which suggests a supposition that this act was a common one in terms of two midwives presented in the decoration of a pot. The fact of midwifery introduces the development of medical sphere in society as women were not alone while giving birth to their children.
Conclusion
Moche society can be treated as one that has a long history which can be traced in the subjects excavated during archeological research. Ceramics and jewelry that were found in the tombs of buried people evidence the level of development of the society in terms of industry and handicraft. Architectural structures and natural environment can be traced in the ceramics that depict different landscapes and images. Fauna and flora are widely presented in ceramics as well; portrait vessels are another sphere expressed in ceramic arts.
A “Woman Giving Birth” vessel is a type of ritual serving vessel which is supposed to have been used in the ritual that were aimed at increasing a woman’s fertility and facilitate the process of delivering a baby. It is natural for ancient societies to sacrifice, so, this particular vessel was a kind of ritual image used to gain the goddess’s favor. As we can see, motherhood and childbirth were an integral part of the Moche society as well as other rituals depicted in ceramics.
Works Cited
Jackson, Margaret A. Moche Art and Visual Culture in Ancient Peru. USA: UNM Press, 2008
Kleiner, Fred S., and Christin J. Mamiya. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: Non-Western Perspectives. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2009
Woodward, David. Cartography in the traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific Societies. Chicago: Humana Press, 1998