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Archaeologists have analyzed textiles from the ancient city of Huacas de Moche, Peru, showing how the population's cultural traditions survived in the face of external influence.

After the Inca, the Moche culture is one of the best-known archaeological cultures of the Andes. It is famed for its colorful temple complexes, the biggest of which, Huacas del Sol in Huacas de Moche, one of the largest known Moche sites, may have been the largest structure in the New World at its peak (c. AD 650–900).

Despite this, relatively little is known about what caused the end of the Moche culture. It has often been proposed that it was erased through the expansion of the powerful Wari Empire.

"The people who built Huacas de Moche, now known as the Moche (a.k.a. the Mochicas), are only known to us through archaeology as they had no writing system," says lead author Dr. Jeffrey Quilter from Harvard University's Peabody Museum.

"The date range for when the Moche culture existed has been debated for many decades."

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