Coca Bag

This coca bag is from the Moche culture that existed in Peru between the period of 100 to 700 AD. The Moche are known for their ceramics, textiles, and metalworking practices, and this bag demonstrates the skill of Moche weavers. This coca bag dates from the 5th-7th century, and was woven from cotton and the hair of a camelid. The bag has geometric pattern motifs and a figure with both anthropomorphic and animalistic characteristics. Coca, which this bag was designed to carry, is a shrub plant which leaves are chewed as a stimulant. Coca bags have been present in Andean culture since the first millennium AD and are still used to this day.