Physico-chemical characterization of Mochica mural paintings: San José de Moro (8th to the 10th century AD)

To the pre-Columbian Mochica culture, a culture that did not develop through writing, mural painting is a strong ideological vector that involves the implementers of those decorations and specialized craftsmen, as well as their sponsors, members of the ruling elite. Archaeometry allows us to answer questions regarding the pictorial technologies that were employed and to bring about pieces of information on the craftsmen who designed those decorations. A corpus of twelve samples of mural paintings has been analyzed in this study. They are from the ceremonial center of cultural and technological exchanges of San José de Moro (Mochica site of the Jequetepeque Valley), dated from the 8th to the 10th century (AD), where remains of mural paintings were uncovered in the alcoves of an elite entombment and on the interior walls of a huaca (Huaca La Capilla), a pyramidal building associated to worshipping. Analyses by SEM-EDS, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were conducted on the samples, completing the analyses by portable X-ray luorescence made in situ. The results obtained allowed us to chart part of the chaîne opératoire and to bring about pieces of information on ancient pre-Columbian craftsmen and their role in Mochica society.