Ancient Peruvians honored their gods with offerings and ceremonies and paid
homage to their dead. The works of art that we see in museums were not usually
objects intended for daily use. Although some of their apparently utilitarian
forms may suggest such usages, their real function was to serve as spiritual
rather than earthly objects.
The value attributed to textiles by pre-Columbian societies can be compared to
the importance given to gold and silver. Textiles served as much more than
clothing; they were also a medium for the spreading of religious ideas and for
transmitting messages to the next world when they were employed to wrap the
mortal remains of the dead.
They also served as exquisite gifts for the rulers of these societies, as well
as to denote social status.
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Textile technology
In ancient Peru the principal materials used for spinning and weaving
were cotton and alpaca and llama wool. They were employed in a number of
natural colors, from white to brown, and they were also dyed using
mineral, vegetable or animal pigments (1).
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In the spinning process a spindle was used that included a feature
known as a piruro (2), which was a kind of counterweight that
facilitated the rotation of the spindle and the tightening of the
thread. During this task the spinners used talcum powder on their
fingers (3). The threads were removed from the spindle and rolled into
balls which could then be dyed. The balls or skeins were then ready to
be woven (1).
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Backstrap (4) or fixed horizontal looms were used. With the help of a
shuttle, the threads were passed through the warp (5) to form the weft
(6). Using a batten (7), the weaver pressed down on the thread,
tightening it firmly. The combs (8) helped the weaver to organize the
threads during the weaving process. Fine needles were used to join the
panels and embroider designs on the cloth (9). In many parts of
present-day Peru, particularly on the northern coast and in the
highlands, women continue to use these ancestral weaving techniques.
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Baskets which contained materials and tools that would have been used
by the spinners and weavers of ancient Peru have been found in
pre-Colombian tombs (10).
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See more at
5.54. Textile Technology - Museo Larco.
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Sculptural cushion
Chancay. Central Coast. Imperial Epoch (1300 CE - 1532 CE).
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Sculptural cushion representing a scene of textile making, with dolls
representing characters with headdress, face paint and tunic, weaving
on a loom.
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See more at
ML600001 - Museo Larco.
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Moche-Huari brocade
Cotton thread in plain fabric. Fusion Epoch (800 CE – 1300 CE).
- Decoration employing dyed camelid fibers.
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Technique: Simple plain weave decorated with supplementary weft or
brocade technique.
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This textile panel features figures shown with their heads in profile,
carrying two scepter-like staffs used by leaders as a symbol of power.
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It probably came from the Castillo de Huarmey (Ancash) site, on Peru's
central coast.
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See more at
5.47. Moche-Huari brocade - Museo Larco.
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Fine Huary tapestry
Cotton and camelid fiber thread. Fusion Epoch (800 CE – 1300 CE).
- Technique: Lacework tapestry.
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This is a second world record in terms of the fineness of the thread.
It has 305 threads per linear inch.
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In this fragment, serpents are depicted with two heads, a feline’s
head at one end and a bird's head at the other.
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See more at
5.55. Fine Huari tapestry - Museo Larco.
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Paracas mantles
The cult of the dead was a very important practice in ancient Peru.
Paracas mantles were used to wrap funerary bundles and they contained
important religious information which accompanied the dead into the
afterlife.
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In the Paracas culture, the body of the deceased was placed in a fetal
position and put in a basket before being wrapped in several layers of
textiles. Other objects were also wrapped inside the funerary bundle,
including ceramics, gourds and textile making and agricultural tools.
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The mantles that were placed closest to the body were the finest. They
probably formed part of the ritual attire of those who had been
interred.
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The identifiable technical and decorative patterns indicate that
nothing was left to chance and that every decision made by the weavers
had a meaning. The artisans made technical decisions whilst taking
into account the religious symbolism of the designs.
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In Paracas mantles, the positioning and orientation of the designs,
the sequences of the motifs and the alteration of colors were filled
with meaning.
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Paracas mantle
The main decoration is formed by two opposed felines which form a
rectangular panel. The feline has two feet resembling those of a bird
and an elongated body like that of a serpent. Inside the largest feline,
two other similar felines are represented, with other color
combinations.
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The same pattern is repeated in both the bands on the borders and the
decorated central stripes, and the only variation is in the
combination of the three colors (yellow, green and black) with which
the body of the feline is outlined. Yellow appears in all the color
combinations.
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In addition to the main design, we can see designs of felines with
serpent tails and geometric birds.
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If we step back from the mantle, we can see that in the central bands
the meeting of the opposed felines outlined in dark colors — black and
green — produces a visual effect resembling a horizontal shadow. The
meeting of the yellow felines produces an effect of light.
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See more at
5.52. Paracas Mantle - Museo Larco.
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Inca Quipus
Quipus were the main system employed by the Incas to record
information. The knotted cords were used to record countable
information. The colors, knots and the distances between the knots
enabled those who used the quipus to identify the type of object
or the characteristics of the population being recorded.
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This record system was very important for an empire sustained by the
exploitation of the labor which the poputation was obliged to provide.
The Inca state used specialist officials to handle this information,
and they were known as quipucamayocs.
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The Inca counting system was based on the decimal system. The
quipus employed a system of knots which were positioned along
the length of the cords to represent single units or tens of thousands
of units.
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The colors of the cords and the structures of the threads and knots
contain information regarding the identity of what was being counted
and recorded. It was possible to distinguish between information
dealing with population, men and women, type of work and production.
Some very large quipus seem to have been used to record
information about communities over a period of time, like a calendar.
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Quipus are formed by a primary cord and hanging cords. They
were usually made from cotton, although some were made from camelid
fibers. Some quipus also feature knotted hanging cords and set
distances between groups of cords which may have enabled the user to
distiguish between different categories of data.
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See more at
5.58. Inca Quipus - Museo Larco.
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See also
Sources
Location
