There is a primitive, animal-like quality about this scene, a singular lack of the tenderness, which is often found in these erotic Moche ceramics. The fact that the male wears a warrior's helmet and that the sex of the passive partner is undetermined may offer a clue: this is perhaps the action of subjugating one's enemies, an age-old ritual of domination. The frankness of the action surprises us, even shocks us, yet it tells us something important about human nature, about urges which have been with humanity since the dawn of time.