On October 16, 2026, archaeologists in Peru's Chicama Valley unearthed ten painted clay faces and seeds of the ulluchu, a fruit drawn across Moche sacrifice scenes whose true identity has never been pinned down.
The October 16 discovery at Huaca Santa Ana: ten painted clay faces, unusual ceramics, and seeds of the ulluchu at a Moche ceremonial complex, the first physical trace of the fruit in years.
In 1987, Walter Alva found an intact Moche lord buried in gold. It proved the blood-drinking rituals painted on Moche pottery were real, not myth.
A tour of the richest intact tomb in the Americas and the warrior-priest found buried inside it with his court.
Masters of metalwork and desert irrigation on Peru's north coast around 100 to 700 AD, reconstructed entirely from their art, temples, and graves.
A Brown University lecture on the archaeology behind Moche combat, captive-taking, and the ritual killing of prisoners.
A fruit painted again and again in Moche bloodletting scenes, yet never confidently identified. Researchers suspect it carried anticoagulant properties that kept sacrificial blood flowing.
At Huaca de la Luna, archaeologists found dozens of men killed in ritual plazas beneath towering murals of a fanged, belt-wearing deity.