Music and dance in the underworld

Room 5, Vitrine 34

• In Moche art, scenes featuring activities in the underworld, as in the case of these vessels, tend to be depicted in relief.
• The dead are depicted dancing hand-in-hand or with their arms linked, and playing instruments such as flutes, or pinkullos, and drums, or tinyas. In these dances, the male skeletons are usually shown with an erect penis, indicating that these inhabitants of the underworld remained potent and vital.
• Moche culture, Florescent Epoch (1 AD – 800 AD), ML002943, ML002957, ML012918.

RO0065

RO0065