Disk Ornament 6th-7th century Moche (Loma Negra) This gilded copper disk, produced by artisans of the Moche culture in northern Peru, is a testament to the impressive skills of metal workers in the Andean region in the Early Intermediate period (200 B.C.-A.D. 600). The disk, perhaps a decorative addition to a small, hand-held shield, was originally cut from a larger sheet of hammered copper and subsequently gilded. The lattice design includes silhouettes of deer in the interstices, their legs flexed, giving the impression of animals in flight, driven into the net-like lattice. Deer hunting scenes illustrated on Moche ceramics show hunters capturing their prey by driving them into nets (Donnan, 1997; Donnan and McClelland, 1999; Lavalle, 1970). Here both the net and the circumference of the disk are adorned with gilded dangles suspended by copper wires fixed to the back of the disk. This would have yielded a strikingly animated image when illuminated by the sun or torchlight. The wires