Circuito Diversidade Cultural (en)

Pre-Columbian archaeological artefacts

Archeology allows us to get to know not only the deep history of our country, but also of other regions on the continent.
Our former exhibition featured a wide variety of metal, ceramic, and textile pieces from different pre-Columbian societies. Thus, we hope to be able to count on new materials of these different typologies, provided by partner institutions or private collectors, to continue to delight our visitors with the diversity and richness of these societies.
In addition, our aim is also to present the relevance of archaeology as an area of knowledge construction concerning the social and political organization and material sophistication of these societies.

Ceramic pieces

As a material that resists time, ceramics are often found in archaeological sites in regions where societies that used it lived. For this reason, in the case of pre-Columbian America, this is a frequently encountered material.
Before the fire, the National Museum had a wide range of objects of this typology. We chose to illustrate one of the societies that we imagined presenting to the public in our new exhibition a Moche vase in the shape of an animal (zoomorph). Their society was situated on the northern coast of Peru, in the valleys of the Moche and Chicama rivers, between the beginning of the Christian era and the eighth century AD.
The Mochica are known for their production of ceramics of excellent technical and artistic quality. The representation that appears in these materials enables researchers to achieve a more profound understanding of the lives of the people who have lived in this region for so many years.