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September 2009
Illustration 2: The Jaguar's Paw -The Hand of the Sun
This is a very interesting Moche ceramic as the Mountains are in the Form of a Jaguar's Paw (orange
dots). The overall Form is a compound of the signs for earth-female and place signs.
The Upper-World
The Place
This is from the two signs that make up the form of the ceramic.
Above
The Hands, The Stewards
(of the Sun)
In The Sky-Arc
The Hands of the Spirit above the headdress delineate the arc of the sky between them.
His Seat
This figure is the representative of the Sun on Earth and Inca like leader. His seat is a place sign.
On The Mountainside
The seated Figure
The Dead Below
Below him is the prostrate body of a dead person who appears to be floating in water.
The 4 mountain peaks on the side of the central peak that cannot be seen from this frontal position represent the four
directions –all directions The water-spirits are on the sides of all the peaks.
The Mouths (springs or a water-source) of the water-spirits appear to be a compound of the Oval sign for all and two
Circular locational signs and may mean all locations. Thus:
The Springs in All Locations
This ceramic seems to have remnants of red coloring on it. There may have been many more signs on
the original piece. Mistakes may have been made regarding some of the smaller signs as they cannot be
clearly seen in the photograph. The general theme of the ceramic scene is fairly clear and meshes well
with other translations that have been made of Moche cosmological material.