Whistles in the wind: the noisy Moche city

Archaeologists have begun in recent years to take seriously the study of sound in past societies. As a contribution to this endeavor we here argue that any nuanced approach to past sound should take into account the entirety of aural experience embodied in the concept of the soundscape. This includes not only the humanly organized sounds of music, but environmental sounds and 'unwanted' sounds such as noise. Utilizing a case study of Moche ceramic whistles, this paper explores the category of noise, and its role in the composition of particular cultural soundscapes. We argue that sounds which often appear harsh and unwanted to modern ears (and bodies) - sounds routinely categorized as noise - may not have been viewed as unwanted sound/noise in certain past contexts. The non-melodic aerophone whistles produced and used by the Moche people living at Huacas de Moche, a large urban center located on the north coast of Peru, were designed, manufactured and used, we argue, to deliberately produce a particular form of wanted sound in the enactment of ritual performance.