Bird Warrior Bottle 4th–7th century Moche This ceramic bottle depicts two hawk warriors shown in profile, one on each side of the vessel. Created by artists of ancient Peru’s Moche culture, the bottle was painted in a style known as “fineline,” so-called for the detailed compositions delicately rendered in red slip (a suspension of clay and/or other colorants in water) on a white background. Dressed in warrior regalia, the two anthropomorphized hawks have arms and legs in addition to magnificent wings. The figures wear a helmet, tied under the chin, surmounted by a crescent finial and an eleme

Bird Warrior Bottle 4th–7th century Moche This ceramic bottle depicts two hawk warriors shown in profile, one on each side of the vessel. Created by artists of ancient Peru’s Moche culture, the bottle was painted in a style known as “fineline,” so-called for the detailed compositions delicately rendered in red slip (a suspension of clay and/or other colorants in water) on a white background. Dressed in warrior regalia, the two anthropomorphized hawks have arms and legs in addition to magnificent wings. The figures wear a helmet, tied under the chin, surmounted by a crescent finial and an element that extends down the back. One figure, pictured here, wears a tunic and helmet with a pattern suggesting feathers, and the comma-shaped designs on the belt may represent a type of fruit called ulluchu (McClelland, 2008). The other figure is similarly attired, but the helmet and the lower portion of his tunic are distinguished by a step design. Both figures wear circular ear spools, and, extending behind the body and secured to the waist by two straps, a type of body armor terminating in a crescent edge known as a backflap. The hawk warriors hold up a mace in the right hand and a shield with extensions in the left; the figure with the feather tunic brandishes a rectangular shield, the other a circular one. Stacked, V-shaped forms representing plants, one of which bears flowers, separate the two figures. These plants may be bromeliads, which grow in the arid deserts of Peru, suggesting that this scene takes place in the desert (Donnan and McClelland, 1999). Warrior figures with animal attributes—or animals with warrior attributes—are often depicted in Moche art. As there was no tradition of writing in the ancient Andes, it is difficult to ascertain the meaning of such imagery. Two interpretations of this have been put forth: in one, the figures are thought to represent humans wearing animal costumes; in the other, the figures are believed to be mythological animal

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