Pregnancy and childbirth

Room 4, Vitrine 22

• Childbirth marks the transition from the dark, watery interior of the mother’s uterus, deep within the female body, to the exterior world.
• In one of these pieces, we see a woman giving birth, accompanied by two midwives: a doula (a woman who assists another woman during pregnancy) and the birth attendant who delivers the child.
• The woman giving birth is depicted with the dark pigment of the secondary areola around her nipples, a sign that her body is preparing itself for breastfeeding.
• Moche culture, Florescent Epoch (1 AD – 800 AD), ML004423, ML004424, ML004425.

ML004424

ML004424