Visit to the Temple of the Moon

The Sun and the Moon Temples were built during the Moche Culture between 100BC and 650AD just south of Trujillo, when the Peruvian empire was at its peak, with an advanced intelligent culture.  The site of these temples or huacas was believed to be in the capital of the Moche state.

The Temple of the Sun was believed to be an administrative centre while the Temple of the Moon was a centre of worship.

We are now going to show you around the Temple of the Moon as that's the one that has the most archaeological interest.

There's a lot to see.

It must have been stunning in its heyday!

These would almost certainly have been tombs

To their great amazement the early Spanish explorers  observed practices that resembled baptism among many of the natives.  This structure could possibly be a baptismal font.  These explorers couldn't believe that what they saw could have been a remnant of Christian worship by civilisations that had existed hundreds of years earlier.  What the early writers described suggested that these natives did practise elements of Christianity as we know it today.   Bishop Diego de Landa noted the practice of a type of baptism by immersion, described by an indigenous word signifying "to be born again".  Interesting!

This shows the location of the Huaca:

And we end with some jewellery based on designs of the period: