Pampa Grande
    Following Túcume, we adventured to Pampa Grande, the former Moche kingdom capital. Although Túcume was enormous, considering Pampa Grande had a much shorter period of occupation-serving as the Moche capital during phases IV and V, its size was even more impressive. The huaca there was larger than anything at Túcume, and the city reached all the way to the road we arrived on. Unfortunately, the huaca itself was a disaster after several El Niños worth of erosion. The ramp was all but gone, and once we reached the top, we saw that the interior had also eroded away, leaving a treacherous shell of adobe bricks. The museum at Pampa Grande was truly classic, sporting dancing children, a snakeskin, and Moche pottery we were actually able to handle and feel for weight. Also dealing with pottery here, we learned that if a ceramic was signed before firing, it was probably the maker's signature, while post-firing signatures are most likely the owner's. These owner signatures, coupled with the high level of artistic quality to Moche pottery indicate craft specialization, even if only in the metalworking and ceramics industries.

Sipán
    A third Lambayeque Valley Moche site, Sipán, held the richest burial found in the New World. From the outside, this site looks like any other-a medium-sized Moche huaca pitted by looters. However, within it, archeologists found the Warrior-Priest of Sipán, buried with six associated sacrifices-two women, two attendants, and two guardians. One attendant was buried with his dog, and all of them had one or more feet removed. The burial chamber contained hundreds of ceramics and a collection of metal-work including gold back flaps, gold and silver peanut necklaces, necklaces of gold monkey heads, ear spools, images of the decapitator, scepters, and images depicting the Moche life cycle and vision of a three-plane universe. Many of these artifacts, including the attendant with a dog, back flaps and scepters are believed to be the items seen in the Moche sacrifice scene. This is a remarkable discovery, because it means physical evidence for a ceremony depicted in art.

San Jose de Moro
    On the way to Trujillo from Chiclayo, our group stopped at two archeological sites still under excavation, and truly not even open to the public. The first, San Jose de Moro, was a cemetery dating to the transition between the Moche and Lambayeque cultures. These transitional sites are difficult to analyze, because the ceramics could be any of three styles-Moche, Lambayeque, or the nearby highlands traditions. Interestingly, they had a pot depicting a man with a mysteriously Huari-looking hat. The excavation pit we looked at was at an unknown state, with indefinable structures and a strangely contorted human burial. Normal burials, as excavated in two other pits from previous seasons, were boot-shaped shafts which almost always faced southwest. The only exception to this was two infants, which faced perpendicular to that axis. These burials varied in whether they were lined with adobes or simply dug out of the earth, and were typical of Moche burials. Archeologists were just beginning to work on a small Moche huaca at the site.