The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas Volume I, II, and III

Evolution of Andean Diversity (500 B.C.E.—C.E. 600) 403
occurred, it did not have the developed sculptural character of Cupisnique/Chavin
or Mochica ceramics. Surprisingly, Cupisnique/Chavin religious
motifs or derivatives are absent. In fact, Salinar decorations emphasized
geometric motifs painted in white against a red-slipped
background or vice versa. It is probable that the Salinar style contributed
to the emergence of the Mochica style, but the latter in its initial phases
emphasized a fanged supernatural being reminiscent of the Cupisnique/
Chavin supernaturals. In spite of this iconographic difference, we may
eventually find that the population represented by the Mochica style
descended from a Salinar population.
Gallinazo-style pottery is characterized by unslipped utilitarian vessels,
often decorated with simple human and animal faces done by modeling,
applique, incising, gouging, and/or punctation, and much more rare
fineware decorated with negative painting (Fig. 5.11). Examples are widely
found on the north coast from Piura to Casma. Gallinazo ceramics were
once thought to be found primarily in the Moche-Virii-Santa valley
sector, but they are also quite common between the Jequetepeque and
La Leche valleys associated with urban sites with monumental constructions,
as in the former sector.
The Gallinazo style is persistent; it probably began around C.E. o and
continued at least to the end of the first millennium C.E. Being iconographically
and technically simple and conservative, it has not received
much attention. The ethnic population represented by Gallinazo style
ceramics coexisted in time and space with that of the Mochica style, and
issues related to their coexistence will be considered at some length later.
As Nasca and Paracas are celebrated southern styles, Mochica has been
enshrined in every museum as the glory of the north. Sometime around
C.E. o (or perhaps a century or so earlier), we see a distinct art style that
integrated various features of the antecedent Cupisnique, Chavin, and
Salinar styles. It combined the naturalistic, sculptural rendering and
symbolism of the Cupisnique and Chavin styles (e.g., interlocking canines)
with the bichrome slip painting of the Salinar style to represent a
wide range of events, creatures, and activities of both the natural and
supernatural worlds. The resultant style, called Mochica or Moche, was
one of the few figurative or narrative styles of the prehispanic New World
art (the Maya art of southern Mexico and Guatemala is another). There
is nothing comparable in the prehispanic Andes to these informative,
illustrated records of oral narratives or "story books." In addition, the
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