69
ers that flow down from the Andes and provide
water to the region during the Southern Hemisphere’s
summer, which runs from December
through March. Fertile valleys were created by the
development and implementation of what is considered
to be antiquity’s most advanced and complex
irrigation and water management systems.
This made three harvests every year possible, and
the most important of these agricultural crops were
corn, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, and manioc.
The supply of protein also was plentiful thanks to
the presence of camelids, guinea pigs, and fowl, but
it was most abundant in the oceans, where people
FIG. 3 (left): Stirrup vessel
depicting the Owl God.
Moche III, Peru.
AD 300–400.
Terracotta, pigment. H: 20.9 cm.
Museo de Arqueología, Antropología e
Historia de Trujillo, inv. 123.
© Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques
Chirac. Photo: Eduardo Hirose.
© Trujillo, Museo de Arqueología,
Antropología e Historia, Universidad
Nacional de Trujillo.
FIG. 4 (below): Stirrup vessel
depicting a blind priest in
prayer. Moche III, Peru. AD
300–400.
Terracotta, pigment. H: 19.7 cm.
Museo Huacas del Valle de Moche,
inv. Plz.2B-043.
© Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques
Chirac. Photo: Eduardo Hirose.
© Trujillo, Proyecto Huaca de la Luna –
Museo Huacas del Valle de Moche,
Universidad Nacional de Trujillo,
Ministère de la culture du Pérou.