“What’s Above the Claws?”
Alana Cordy-Collins
The Discovery
The
2001 excavations at Huaca Dos Cabezas, a 2nd-5th century
AD Moche pyramid in the
The foot was well executed in low relief, with clean curves and consistent elevation, except for the claw sheaths that are recessed slightly from the foot. The sculptors created the relief work by excising areas of wet mud bricks with a smooth-edged tool. Although the background planes are not absolutely vertical, they, too, were smoothly done, leaving no visible marks or impressions.
Just below the foot runs a yellow band, and below it is a geometric panel laid out in a “Greek Key” design (Fig. 4). Fragments of pigment clinging to the individual elements of the key show that each had been painted a separate color: white, rosy purple, yellow ochre, gray, brick red, and mint green. The flat background was painted black, causing all these raised relief elements to appear even more prominent. The base of the key panel abutted a 2.45 meter wide pediment at a right angle. The pediment was plastered, but unpainted.
The wall on which the demon was sculpted stands 4.5 meters tall. However, because the upper brick courses are quite eroded, neither the body nor the face of the creature is readily discernable. Nonetheless, careful study of the entire wall surface has revealed important additional details. First, the demon is bilaterally symmetrical: A mate to the first foot is barely visible, pointing in the opposite direction, demonstrating that the creature had stood upright in a splayed stance (Fig. 5). Second, there are at least two of the creatures—the bases of another pair of splayed feet appear to the immediate east. These revelations were crucial to the preliminary reconstruction of the original design. The fact of bilateral symmetry allowed us to generate a partial composite drawing of the creature, and the discovery that there was more than one enabled us to lay out a sequence of images across the entire extant length of the wall. We employed 1-meter wide clear Mylar sheets to overlay the more complete demon and traced its right half onto the Mylar with marking pen (Fig. 6). Then we reversed the plastic sheet and traced those details visible only in the left half of the demon (Fig. 7). Next, we moved the composite drawing to the second demon figure and repeated the process (Fig. 8).
To
reclaim even more of the original frieze, we created a mobile 2 x 3 meter
alpha-numeric grid of 10-centimeter increments that could be stood upright
against the wall face (Fig. 9). Using
the grid, it was possible to take depth measurements that revealed the precise
topography of the wall surface. We were
also able to employ the grid to pinpoint the locations of extant original
surfaces. Thereby, we were able to
produce a vertical map. With the grid
still in place, we photographed the wall in digital format. We then printed the gridded image at a scale
of
What IS
Above the Claws?
What the upper part of the
demons was like is a crucial question.
Any reconstruction is hypothetical, but one can be postulated, starting
with comparative evidence. Only two
other Moche sites have yielded large painted bas-relief sculptures: Huaca Cao
Viejo (Complejo El Brujo) in the
More refinements to the composite were available from Dos Cabezas, itself. Our 1994 excavations there, in a settlement of Moche fisher folk, uncovered a bowl decorated with bas-relief Fish Decapitator images (Fig. 12; Cordy-Collins 2001: Fig. 3). Local informants report that another ceramic vessel, a bottle modeled into the form of a Fish Decapitator, was found at the site also, previous to our work at the huaca (Fig. 13; ibid: Fig. 4). These two finds suggest that the demon on the walls may be the Fish Decapitator. However, the long, undulating appendages are curious, and the creatures seem to have had four of them; Fish Decapitators have a pair of straight appendages—often rather short—attached to their rib cage (Cordy-Collins 2001: Figs. 3, 4). However, in this case, the artists simply may have curved them, or perhaps melded octopus characteristics with fish. Frequently, Fish Decapitators are shown with spiked cranial appendages, less frequently with a pair of long tresses. Paired tresses are also part of the Monster Decapitator’s appearance (Fig. 14; Cordy-Collins 1992: Figs. 8, 9), so the façade demons may be a blend. (In fact, the two ceramic Fish Decapitators have a long muzzle, a feature also characteristic of the Monster Decapitator).
The only item of clothing that has survived on the façade demons is a belt. It is the squared element at the figure’s sides, between the outer curve of the leg and the beginning of the undulating lower appendage (Fig. 8). Based on the clothing of the bas-relief Fish Decapitator images in ceramic, as well as the general conventions of Moche art, we can postulate that a simple loincloth was attached to the belt. Moche artistic canons dictate that it would have had a short, triangular design. This can be tested: Although the inner part of the legs’ definition has vanished, it can be recreated by swinging an arc upward from the curve of each heel (excluding the spurs) to the point where the arcs intersect. The intersection takes place 15-16 cm below the belt, affording just enough space for a triangular loincloth. Furthermore, the two ceramic Fish Decapitator vessels from Dos Cabezas wear such a loincloth (Figs. 12, 13), as do those at Luna (Fig. 11). One other element of costume may be conjectured, a shirt. Both the bas-relief Fish Decapitators on the Dos Cabezas bowl and those at Luna wear one. Very small fragments of bright red paint suggest its presence on the façade figures. If it bore a design, it may have been in the form of a wave. The two Fish Decapitators from Dos Cabezas have this element: a small curled wave is incised on the shirtfront of the ceramic bowl Fish Decapitators and, although a shirt is not clearly indicated on the sculpted bottle Fish Decapitator, a large modeled wave is attached to its chest.
Our composite Decapitator shows that four or five additional paired elements emanated from his body (Fig. 8). Comparison with the Luna demons indicates that the lowermost are probably remnants of the arms, while those directly above are most likely to be the mates to the lower undulating appendages. Those remaining are best explained as the spiked cranial projections shown on many ceramic decapitators. Unfortunately, the portion immediately above the head of the Luna decapitators is missing, so direct comparisons cannot be made. However, there is a disembodied supernatural visage at Huaca de la Luna whose cranial emanations are strikingly like those of Fish Decapitators (Fig. 15). It also exhibits the double-curled ears, fanged muzzle, and heavily-lidded eyes of Fish Decapitators. In fact, it may be an abbreviated decapitator. Thus, we can propose that the face of the demons at Dos Cabezas was similar to those isolated visages at Luna. Because the disembodied Luna heads are quite similar to the modeled head of the Fish Decapitator in Figure 13 and because the latter is from Dos Cabezas, we have combined the two in reconstructing the face of our composite (Fig. 16).
The ultimate—and defining—details are not easy to identify: the tumi and severed human head are not truly locatable on the walls of Dos Cabezas. However, the clawed thumb of the left hand is plainly evident on the eastern Decapitator (Figs. 17a, 17b). This well-preserved feature, coupled with the spacing between the two demons, allows us to reconstruct where the tumi and severed head should be. Comparing the size of the thumb claw to the heel spur allows us to extrapolate from the foot in restoring the entire hand (although we have clenched the hands to correspond to all known decapitator hand configurations). Placement of the tumi in our reconstructed creature’s hand is suggested by its position in the hands of the Fish Decapitators on the bowl (Fig. 12). The shape, size, and exact appearance of the severed head are conjecture, but we base our reconstruction on severed heads held by other decapitators in Moche art (Fig. 18; Cordy-Collins 1992: Figs. 8, 11, 12; Donnan and McClelland 1999: Figs 2.21, 3.23f).
A further reconstruction can be postulated: Although there is no direct evidence that the demon was flanked above, as below, with the Greek Key panel, indirect evidence allows for the existence of one. The painted decapitator at Huaca de la Luna is framed above and below with the identical wave motif band (Fig. 11). An upper band at Dos Cabezas also is consistent with the Moche canon of bilateral symmetry and the practice of pairing (Fig. 19).
Our reconstruction of the colors is based on several sources. First, some areas of the frieze retain paint on their surfaces. Background areas all seem to have been black. The first five of the Greek Key elements have a clear color sequence, west to east: white, rose purple, yellow ochre, gray, brick red, and mint green. Fragments of painted plaster fallen off the walls, as well as paint spatters on the wall beneath the Greek Key, reveal no additional colors. Thus, we believe that the palette was limited to these seven colors. We have reconstructed the entire length of the Greek Key in a repeating color sequence. The colors of the Decapitator present greater difficulty. The foot of the first one on the east wall is rose purple. Its claws are white. A speck of red adheres to the chest area. Beyond that, there is no direct evidence. Therefore, we have extrapolated, coloring all skin areas the rose purple, and hand claws, fangs, and eyeballs white. We have used the yellow ochre for the undulating appendages, approximating the brown and yellow appendages of the Luna decapitators. Although his shirt may have born a design as does the Luna’s, in the absence of definitive evidence at Dos Cabezas, we have left it plain red. We suggest that the belt was gray and the loincloth mint green for two reasons: those are the only colors from the palette not so far assigned and, different colors on adjoining clothing items would have made the Decapitators more distinct when seen from a distance. For the severed head and tumi, we have relied on the colors of those features in the Luna murals. Finally, we suggest that all details—including the iris of the eyes—were incised or modeled and painted black, again following the Luna examples (Fig. 20). As before, there are specific reasons for this: First, all other known decapitator images have either dark outlining and/or incision. The latter process casts shadows into the cut or modeled areas, darkening them. Second, black outlining would have made the demons very clear and recognizable from whatever distance they were viewed. Third, the Dos Cabezas muralists did use black in the excised areas. The sun’s daily movement, from east to west across the north façade of the building, would have kept the Decapitators in watchful animation.
The width of the reconstructed Decapitator plus the distance between the two extant figures can be plotted against the length of the wall on which they appear. Thus, we can state with some certainty that 10 representations of the creature originally occupied that eastern wall. That we are likely correct in postulating a multiplicity of demons is supported by the fact that the Greek Key design continues several meters to the east, arguing that something must have occupied the more than 4 meters of space above it. The most parsimonious interpretation of what filled that space is additional demon images.
Ten more seem to have occupied the north façade’s matching west wall. Its black panel surmounted by yellow band and polychrome Greek Key motif are, in places, accompanied by the flat background patterning characteristic of the eastern designs. This western reconstruction is congruent both with Moche canons of pairing and of bilateral symmetry (Fig. 21).
Whether or not additional images occupied the 15 meter-long intervening space between the east and west walls remains a mystery. Although remnants of a high platform remain, this central area sustained the greatest damage in the 16th century Spanish looting operations, leaving it susceptible to continued erosional deprivations.
Technology of Frieze Construction
Two scenarios may be put forward to explain how the Decapitator frieze was produced:
1) The wall and the relief work were done in rapid succession, whereby the bricks were not yet dry when the excision was executed. Mud brick normally will dry in two days (Rodolfo Arana R., personal communication, 2001). This would have necessitated a carefully-orchestrated construction, with brick makers working on the spot to produce the bricks, others laying them up, others giving the wall its plaster surface, while artists cut into the wet wall, smoothing the excised areas, and others painted it.
2) Dry bricks were used to construct the wall. It was then wetted sufficiently to allow the excision to be done cleanly, was given a coat of mud plaster, the design excised and painted.
The second explanation seems more likely. With the first, one must question whether a high wall made of wet brick would have had enough integrity to hold together; whereas simply rewetting one face of the dry brick would not have destabilized the construction.
The Moche muralists at Dos Cabezas appear to have used only seven colors, including black and white, to create their empanelled demons. Pigment analyses await completion, but it is likely that the colors are mineral in origin. During our 2001 excavations, we recovered two balls of ground mineral colors, one yellow ochre and one rosy purple. In addition, we recovered a small grinding stone with light green pigment residue (Fig. 22). The local site of Cerro de Pintura may have been the source of these raw minerals (Fig. 1). Application of color to the wall seems to have been a variation of the buon fresco technique (Cennini 1978), whereby ground mineral pigments, suspended in water are applied directly to a freshly plastered wall. Through capillary action, the colors can permeate the plaster and become an integral part of the drying wall.
A person standing in the huge north platform during the 5th century AD and looking toward the façade of Huaca Dos Cabezas could not have failed to be impressed—perhaps even terrified—by the host of 4-meter tall decapitators, resplendent in polychrome pigments, ominous in their endeavor. Clearly, they were intended to overwhelm the spectator. But why were those creatures and that location chosen? What message was broadcast? Earlier studies have indicated that the cult of the Decapitator was small, that it was not a central theme in Moche art (Cordy-Collins 1992). However, the prominence of decapitators as large mural motifs now suggests otherwise.[2] Were the temples whose walls they ornamented actual sites for decapitation rituals? It is clear that human decapitation was practiced at Dos Cabezas; we have excavated both the severed heads and a decapitator still holding his knife (Cordy-Collins 2001). Yet, how decapitation functioned within Moche life remains largely a mystery. The manner in which decapitators are shown in the art—as masked or supernatural beings— demonstrates that they were part of Moche religion. The great wall images at Dos Cabezas argue for considerable prominence—for a time. There is unequivocal evidence that the reliefs were replastered and repainted. Yet, in the end, the Decapitator seems to have been part of a faith that failed.
Eventually, the largest structure ever built in the Jequetepeque Valley—the Huaca Dos Cabezas—was left to time and the elements. But before the Moche abandoned their imposing structure, they buried the Decapitator frieze in a layer of mud plaster. Then they painted it white, and then red. There is no indication that they did anything more.
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[1] The Proyecto Dos Cabezas is directed by Christopher B. Donnan, UCLA, and co-directed by Guillermo A. Cock, CONSULPATCU. The project receives support from the National Geographic Society, the Lende Foundation, and the University of San Diego. Excavations were carried out under Resolución Directoral Nacional No. 619, issued by the Instituto Nacional de Cultural del Perú.
[2] Not only at Dos Cabezas, but at Huaca de la Luna and Cao Viejo (Uceda et al. 1994; Franco, Gálvez, and Vásquez 1994: Fig. 4.12)