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The Huaca de la Luna (loosely translated as Temple of the Moon) is a large adobe brick structure built by the Moche people of northern Peru. It, along with the Huaca del Sol, constitute the modern-day remains of an ancient Moche capital city called Cerro Blanco by modern archaeologists. The modern site is referred to as the Huacas de Moche.

The Huacas de Moche site is located just outside the modern city of Trujillo, Peru, near the mouth of the Moche River valley. The Huaca de la Luna, though it is the smaller of the two huacas at the site, yields the most archaeological information. The Huaca del Sol was partially destroyed and looted by Spanish conquistadors in the 17th century, while the Huaca de la Luna was left relatively untouched. It is believed today that the Huaca del Sol may have been a burial mound for Moche rulers, while the Huaca de la Luna served a largely ceremonial and religious function, though it contains burials as well.

Though today the Huaca de la Luna is colored the soft brown of its adobe brickwork, just after its construction it would have been an impressive site to behold. The huaca was decorated in registers of murals which were painted in black, bright red, white, and yellow. The sun and weather has since faded these murals away, but other murals used in earlier phases of construction can still be seen inside the Huaca. Many of these depict a deity now known as Ayapec. "Ayapec" is a Quechua word translating as "Wrinkle-Face;" this name was given to the deity by the later Inca because of the deity's appearance.

An interesting aspect of the temple's construction is that all of the bricks used in the structure bear one of ninety-three different markings, each one corresponding to a group of laborers. Each "team" was assigned a mark to put on their bricks, and these were used to count the number of bricks laid for financial as well as (presumably) competitive purposes.

The Huaca de la Luna itself is a large complex of three main platforms, each one serving a different function. The northernmost platform, at one time brightly decorated with a variety of murals and reliefs, was destroyed by looters. Because of this, the central and southern platforms have been the focus of most excavations. The central platform has yielded multiple high-status burials interred with a variety of fine ceramics, suggesting that it was used as a burial ground for the Moche elite, while the Huaca del Sol was used for the interrment of rulers.

The large southern platform was the site of human sacrifice rituals which are depicted in a variety of Moche visual arts, most notably painted ceramics. After their sacrifice, bodies of victims would be hurled over the side of the Huaca. This finding is supported by the discovery of multiple skeletons of adult males found at the foot of the Huaca, all of whom show signs of grizzly trauma, usually a severe blow to the head, as the cause of death.

References

Art of the Andes, from Chavin to Inca. Rebecca Stone Miller, Thames and Hudson, 1995.

The Incas and their Ancestors. Michael E. Moseley, Thames and Hudson, 1992.

• History of Peru
• Archaeological sites in Peru