Throughout Ancient America, gold and other precious metals were considered sacred substances, symbolic of the sun, light, heat, and celestial power. When adorned with gold jewelry, the wearer personified the powers associated with the material, in effect becoming a golden person. Earrings, nose clips, and pectorals in geometric forms and figurative pendants and broaches in the shape of sacred creatures like bats, frogs, and jaguars were worn as decoration or included as offerings in burials or at shrines. Gold was also used for weapons and other ritual objects such as mace heads and ceremonial knives (tumi).

The north coast of present-day Peru was home to a variety of culturally complex and technologically advanced societies including the Moche and Chimu. As early as 1200 BC, the unique stirrup spout was produced on the north coast. Stirrup spouts were a way to enable continuous air and liquid flow through the handle of the spout of the vessel, but the exact intention of this form in unknown. Most ceramics were made by hand using a clay coiling technique, but the introduction of the mold eventually made mass production possible. These vessels were traded both within the culture’s communities and with neighboring cultures.