The Lord of Sipan is the most well-known tomb of the Moche culture in Peru. This mummy was founded in the Lambayeque valley by Peruvian archeologist Walter Alva in 1987. The burial was found in a low side platform made of adobe bricks in Sipan’s Huaca Rajada. Three major tombs were discovered there, but the Lord of Sipan's is the most elaborately researched. His rein is approximated to be around 200 A.D. and his age is estimated to be about 40 years old. Inside his tomb were a 1000-year old pottery vessel, a guardian with his feet cut off, as well as six other individuals. The Lord of Sipan was also found in a sarcophagus made of wood. Next to his head were the skeletons of two young women. Along his side lay skeletons of a dog and two lamas. He was adorned with headdresses covered with gold, silver and copper. He wore a chest protector with jewels and gold necklaces, knives, ceremonial implements of gold and places for food.
Lord of Sipan tomb Masks
The second tomb shares similarities with the Lord of Sipan with a central lord buried with fine offerings and five other burials. This tomb was found in 1989 in known as El Sacerdote (the priest). The third tomb found is called El Viejo. This was buried with a large quantity of metal objects, but not with other people.
Meaning: The Lord of Sipan represents the symbolic duality that constitutes the most basic principle of the symbolic organization of the Moche religion. The dualist organization has been observed in the position of the bodies. The bodies surround the principal individuals in the two burials.
The individual on the right rests on his back in the same position and orientation as the Lord. The second individual on his left was placed on his back with his head in the opposite direction. The two women that were found were placed in different positions. One woman lay near his head with her head facing east. The other woman lay at his base with her head facing west. The objects of gold were on his right and the silver on his left, and the number of the ornament such ceremonial knifes were duplicated as well in two metals gold and silver.
The tomb of the Lord of Sipan has a value that is incalculable because of what it reveals about elite Moche culture and Moche artwork.
Bourget, Steve.
2006 Sex, death, and sacrifice in Moche religion and visual culture. University of Texas Press: illustrated.