Moche Ceremonial Copper Alloy Knife (Tumi)

Pre-Columbian Era, Moche Culture, Moche Phase II–IV, c. 200–600 AD, Northern Peru

An exquisite and historically significant small-sized ceremonial knife (Tumi), crafted from thin sheets of arsenical copper. This piece features a trapezoidal shaft adorned with delicate incised symbols and a crescent-shaped cutting edge, a hallmark of Moche metallurgy. Likely a votive offering, it would have been wrapped into a mummy bundle, ensuring its presence in the afterlife.

The Tumi was a ceremonial blade used by several pre-Columbian cultures along the Peruvian coast—including the Moche, Sicán, Chimú, and Inca—for blood sacrifices and surgical procedures. Moche iconography frequently depicts the Tumi in ritual use, particularly in the sacrifice of captives, where it is shown cutting the throats of victims.

Among the Inca, crescent-bladed tumis played a central role in Inti Raymi’rata, the Sun Festival, held after the potato and maize harvest. The High Priest would use a Tumi to sacrifice a pure black or white llama, carefully extracting its entrails to divine the future. The animal and its remains were then ritually incinerated as an offering to the Sun God Inti.

Beyond rituals, the Tumi also served a medical purpose, playing a key role in cranial trephination, an early form of neurosurgery performed to relieve head trauma, psychological disorders, or fractures. Unlike its ceremonial counterpart, the surgical Tumi was often smaller and highly refined, proving the advanced medical knowledge of ancient Andean civilizations.

This magnificent artifact is a testament to the ritual, artistic, and scientific mastery of the Moche people, making it a rare and desirable piece of Pre-Columbian history.

Moderate condition. Age-related heavy wear. Reddish green surface patina and encrusted mineral deposits. Light remains of ancient textile fragments and impressions on the surface. Size approx. 10,0cm x 1,0cm (blade 1,8cm) x 0,2cm.

Provenance: From the estate of Paul Ragnar Wedendal Sr. & Paul Wedendal Jr. Collected in the 1940's to 1950's.

For a similar examples see:

Tumi (knife), Princeton University Art Museum, Accession number: y1990-43 (https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/33453)

Tumi, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Accession number: 2018.269 (https://vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-155843176/)