Trumpet 900 - 1100

This pottery trumpet, in the shape of an animal head, was made by the Moche people of ancient Peru. The Moche culture flourished on the northern coast of Peru between the 1st and 8th centuries. Their society was highly stratified, with a warrior elite ruling over a population engaged in agriculture, fishing, and craft production. The visual arts, including ceramics like this trumpet, played a crucial role in Moche society, serving as a means of communication, ritual, and social control. Trumpets like these were not simply musical instruments but powerful symbols of authority and status. The animal head depicted on the trumpet may represent a jaguar, a creature associated with power and shamanic transformation in Moche iconography. Further research into Moche art and archaeology would reveal how such objects were used in their rituals. It shows the importance of institutions like museums in preserving and interpreting cultural artifacts.