Moche Portrait Vessel of a Ruler
This finely crafted portrait vessel comes from the Moche culture of northern Peru, dating to ca. 100 BC – 500 AD.

The end of the first millennium BC witnessed the emergence of several influential civilizations in the central Andes and in Ecuador.

Sustained by sophisticated irrigation systems and linked by extensive road networks, these societies supported expanding populations, developed monumental architecture, practiced elaborate forms of “royal” burial, and engaged in frequent warfare.

Among the most prominent cultures of this era were the Moche, or Mochica, in northern Peru; the Nazca in the south; and a series of highland states in the Altiplano that paved the way for the rise of Tiahuanaco, as well as the Chorrera-derived cultures along the Ecuadorian coast.