Cultures of the Ancient Americas; A series in parts. Part 5 (Textiles and Baskets)

The Arizona Museum of Natural History has recently received major donations of objects from the American Southwest, Mesoamerica, and the Andes region of South America. The museum has opened a new exhibition, Cultures of the Ancient Americas, created solely from the new gifts. These magnificent objects offer insights into the cultures that produced them and underscore the monumental achievements of ancient peoples from New Mexico to Bolivia. We also celebrate the extraordinary generosity of our donors, who made the exhibition possible. Moche materials are the gift of Walter Knox of Scottsdale, AZ. Over the next several weeks AzMNH’s Museum Musings will highlight these objects and the cultures they represent, and suggest the special experience awaiting visitors to the exhibition.

The Final Chapter... 

Tiwanaku

Tiwanaku, Bolivia: Gateway of the Sun

Tiwanaku (Tiahuanacu) culture is named for the archaeological site of Tiwanaku that lies around the shores of Lake Titicaca in the Andean highlands.  At 12,630 feet in altitude, Tiwanaku was one of the highest cities anywhere in the ancient world.  It was central to a civilization that extended from northern Chili and northwestern Argentina through highland Bolivia and Peru between 300 and 1000 CE.  Tiwanaku was important as the center of a regional state system that predated the Inka Empire.  It occupied a strategic position between the high-resource area of Lake Titacaca and the dry Altiplano.  Agriculturally it depended on a system of "flooded-raised fields," in which mounds planted with crops were separated by shallow canals.  Its population comprised farmers, pastoralists, and specialized artisans of ceramic, textile, and ornamental goods.  Tiwanaku society was stratified, with elites controlling a distribution system of goods and services to the rest of the populace.

Basketry Vessel
Tiwanaku, 300-1000 CE
Andean Highlands, Bolivia

This small basket has everted sides and basic construction with pleasing decorative elements that elevate it from the ordinary.  It has either been well used or has just weathered the ravages of time, but still manages a flare for simple elegance.  It is made on a coiled bundle foundation with a closed weave and a self rim (i.e., rim and body have the same stitch style).  With a coil count of 8 coils/inch and 18 stitches/inch, it has a fine rather than a coarse weave.

The design mirrors the form of the basket, emphasizing the outward reach of the side walls.  The black and red "step and wave" pattern designs are narrower at the base and expand towards the top.  The design must follow the form.  But almost as though accommodating this, each step breaks open at the rise to the next step into a volute, an angular open spiral.  It is as though the design is implemented to allow further expansion.  This lends fluidity to an otherwise angular design.  The design is repeated around the basket, as well as vertically.  The rim terminates the next level of design before it reaches completion, giving the impression that the vessel extends beyond its own boundaries.  The exemplary gracefulness gives this basket a simple elegance.

Basketry "Olla"
Tiwanaku, 300-1000 CE
Andean Highlands, Bolivia

This basket is made on a basic coiled bundle foundation, has a self rim, and a closed, fine weave (8 coils/inch, 16 stitches/inch).  The form of the basket is distinctive.  The body is globular with a narrower neck and everted opening.  The body rests on a single coil sewn to the base by the same wefting as the whole; this lifts it slightly lending a certain singularity to the piece.  Side handles, with braided edges, join just below the rim to attach at the shoulder, and stand out as a different technique applied to the basket; the effect is charming.  A fine black line on one coil separates the neck from the body.  Stepped right triangles encircle the body; every other triangle is vertically offset, and the direction of the stepping is reversed.  Alternating reversals such as these are often used as a means of attaining visual balance in a piece but may also have symbolic attributes.  These designs continue onto the base of the basket where they lose their patterning with reduced coil size.

This is an unusual form of basket in a two-handled olla shape.  There are not many examples of Tiwanaku basketry, so it is difficult to state just how unusual.  As baskets tend to preserve less well than their ceramic counterparts, they are often thought of as having been part of the technology of a culture some time before their appearance.  Basketry forms and designs often became later replicated in ceramic counterparts.  This form of vessel also occurs in Tiwanaku ceramics.

This concludes our series on Cultures of the Ancient Americas. We hope you enjoyed it.

Cultures of the Ancient Americas; a Series in Parts. Part 5, Textiles and Baskets continued...

The Arizona Museum of Natural History has recently received major donations of objects from the American Southwest, Mesoamerica, and the Andes region of South America. The museum has opened a new exhibition, Cultures of the Ancient Americas, created solely from the new gifts. These magnificent objects offer insights into the cultures that produced them and underscore the monumental achievements of ancient peoples from New Mexico to Bolivia. We also celebrate the extraordinary generosity of our donors, who made the exhibition possible. Moche materials are the gift of Walter Knox of Scottsdale, AZ. Over the next several weeks AzMNH’s Museum Musings will highlight these objects and the cultures they represent, and suggest the special experience awaiting visitors to the exhibition.

Chancay Textiles

The Chancay used llama wool, cotton, and feathers as resources in the spinning and weaving processes. Weaving was used to make everyday items like clothing and bags, as well as specialty items such as funerary masks.  Techniques used to create decoration in fabric included decorated gauzes, brocade, embroidery, and painted woven fabric.  Common motifs included geometric patterns, zoomorphic and marine motifs, and anthropomorphic figurines done in colors of whites, shades of brown and yellow, reds, blues, and greens.  Most popular were the crescent head-dressed "deity" and bird motifs.  Textiles are known from their abundance in Chancay tombs: people with rank had many grave goods, including textiles; commoners had only a few and a bundle with undecorated fabric.

Like craft specialists anywhere today, the Chancay weaver possessed a personal toolkit.  These "weaver's kits" have been recovered in large numbers from funerary contexts and contain remarkably similar items but are not always identical.  The kit includes tools that this weaver used in spinning fibers and weaving, as well as the products of the craft.

 

Weaver’s Kit
Chancay 900-1430 CE
Central Coast of Peru, Lima Area

This Weaver's Kit contains most things necessary for the weaver to accomplish the task, and it all stows away in one handy lidded basket.  The contents include items for spinning and for weaving.

For spinning:  unworked sticks for use, or fashioning into spindles; a number of decorated and undecorated spindles, with and without spindle whorls; a bundle of spindles wrapped with cord; and spindles with spun fiber wound around the shaft.

For weaving:  a rolled up back strap loom with the weaving attached, and heddles and shed stick in place; a back strap for belting the loom around the waist; a number of shed sticks, battens, picks and other weaving tools.

Some of the finished woven products include a bag, a textile fragment, a bundle of felt, and bundles of cordage and strap that may have served to tether the loom, or just been products of a days' work.  Of some interest, is a variety of "personal possessions" (perhaps granting spiritual protection or insuring success) included in the kit: a gourd, a polished stone, a "God's Eye", a drilled bone, some pendants, and a miniature Cuchimilco.  The latter is of particular note, as these items in a larger size are ubiquitous in Chancay culture (See the Chancay section for an example).  The miniature shares many of the same attributes that characterize the larger Cuchimilco.

Gift of Walter Knox, Scottsdale, AZ

        
Loom Posts with Carved Finials
Chancay, 1000-1400 CE
Central Coast of Peru, Lima Area

Two wood loom supports have matching carved finials with standing figures that surmount the posts.  The figures wear crescent headdresses similar to other Chancay images.  Unlike some Chancay loom post figures, which can have quite ornate headdresses, these figures have a simplified crescent with rounded and undecorated features.  The overall appearance of the figures is rounded rather than geometric.  Facial features include almond-shaped eyes, a rather large triangular nose, and a simplified expressionless mouth on a rounded face.  Like a guardian of the loom, the figures stand erect, unclothed and unadorned, with arms straight at their sides, and knees bent, but turned straight ahead.

The posts have seven roughly square mortise holes that secured the upper and lower horizontal warp beams of the loom.  The seven positions would allow the beams to be moved up or down for sizing, as well as positioning for work.  This configuration for a fixed-frame loom allows greater flexibility for wider textiles to be woven than is possible with the back strap loom.  It is possible that the special figures on the finials provided some protective advantage for the weavers, or for the spirit of the work or the cloth itself.

Gift of Walter Knox, Scottsdale, AZ

Child’s Poncho, 20" x 36"
Chancay/Inka, 1200-1500 CE
Central Coast of Peru

This textile, a partial split tapestry weave, has an intricate design of many colors.  Of typical construction, two joined woven panels make a larger cloth.  Looking closely, though, this cloth is a patchwork of many small rectangular cloths.  A slit along half the center seam forms an opening to create a poncho or shirt.  The small size may suggest a child's shirt, but unusual in that many children's ponchos lack design and are not dyed.  This dyed fabric is covered with a repeat of designs: many alternating smaller and larger human figures, in tunics, lined up holding hands.  Color combinations of outline and fill vary among the figures' tunics in groups of eight to ten.  The group is repeated in rows across the entire field, seeming to continue indefinitely until a horizontal border, in a red and a dark tan stripe, abruptly stops them.  This is a very complex design for a garment of an ordinary citizen. The poncho confirms the special status of the wearer.

This textile shares much with the Chimú textile: the standardized human figure, now in "sickle-shaped" headdress; repeating elements; and alternating inverse patterns.  These features are often seen in Chancay textiles.  Given the quantity found, repeated like-design, construction technique, and spinning characteristics, possibly the textiles were mass produced for the robust regional trade.  Certainly a high level of artistic competence was achieved.  Also, care was taken in piecing this garment to maintain the "line of eight/ten figures" pattern, but the sequencing of color combinations had to be sacrificed in many instances.  Were patches used to extend the life of the garment?  If so, it is evidential that textiles were standardized to such a degree that fabric itself could be recycled for repairs; much like today, excess denim may patch a pair of beloved jeans.

Anonymous gift facilitated by Walter Knox, Scottsdale, AZ

Painted Textile, 26" x 52"
Chancay, ca. 900-1200 CE
Central Coast of Peru

This cloth has a natural background and design painted in a light shade of brown.  The lower edge has a border of narrow brocades in alternating shades of brown/cream.  A further adornment, a dark brown woven strip with fringe finish, is sewn to the brocaded edge.  The cloth is constructed from three vertical panels, each with a similar but not identical design, sewn edge to edge to form a horizontal finished piece.  The edge finish was attached to the panels after joining.  Each panel is a loosely woven, gauze-like typical plain-weave, but with a two thread warp and a single thread weft.  Some staining suggests use as a burial cloth; the single-sided edge treatment may indicate an altar cloth or manta.

The complex designs are interesting, geometric forms described as either a snake or lizard.  These three designs share common parts, but the parts are put together differently to create slightly different constructions.  It is unclear how these figures fit into Chancay iconography.  Whether a snake, a lizard, or some other representation, care has been taken to make them similar yet individual in their own right.


(Join us in 2 weeks for a continuation of Textiles and Baskets) 

Cultures of the Ancient Americas, a series in parts. Part 5 Textiles and Baskets

The Arizona Museum of Natural History has recently received major donations of objects from the American Southwest, Mesoamerica, and the Andes region of South America. The museum has opened a new exhibition, Cultures of the Ancient Americas, created solely from the new gifts. These magnificent objects offer insights into the cultures that produced them and underscore the monumental achievements of ancient peoples from New Mexico to Bolivia. We also celebrate the extraordinary generosity of our donors, who made the exhibition possible. Moche materials are the gift of Walter Knox of Scottsdale, AZ. Over the next several weeks AzMNH’s Museum Musings will highlight these objects and the cultures they represent, and suggest the special experience awaiting visitors to the exhibition.



Chimú Textiles

Textiles from cotton, llama and vicuña wool, but mostly alpaca wool, were usually woven in a plain weave.  Fibers were typically dyed with red (cochineal) and other bright colors (plants and minerals).  Single rectangular pieces of cloth became loincloths, shirts, tunics, ponchos and bags. 

 Embellishments included brocades, embroidery, paint, feathers, gold or silver plates.  Garments of the elite might be adorned with feathers or metallic appliqués.  Sea birds and aquatic life were common motifs, reflecting this coastal group's relationship to the sea; also spirals, geometrics, and stylized humans. Some elements occurred in earlier Moche culture.  Textile designs are repeated in architectural wall reliefs. Great quantities of textiles were buried with the Chimú dead.

 
Woven Blanket with Eight Figures, 40" x 84"
Lambayeque/Chimú, ca. 1000-1400 CE
North Coast of Peru

This plain-weave blanket has a design of eight embroidered human/mythical figures.  Four figures appear in each row, alternating in an inverse red and cream pattern; the pattern alternates again by row.  Each figure wears a single crescent headdress and ear spools.  The blanket ends are decorated with a striped border, embellished with woven bird effigies that alternate in an inverse yellow and brown pattern.  The primary decoration is framed by these borders and the red finishing fringe. Stains on the surface may be from human decomposition indicating use as a shroud.

The figures resemble what is known as a Peruvian moon animal; they share the crescent headdress associated with this being.  The moon animal is often represented in animal form but can appear as a human.  The pattern of alternating "positive" and "negative" figures may reflect a tendency for the moon animal to appear in pairs or may just provide contrast.  Moon animals are found in the Moche period in a variety of forms.  Typical Chimú design characteristics include: repeating elements; alternating inverse patterns; standardized human figures in a front-facing pose, arms outstretched, legs bent and feet turned out.  Ear spools are objects commonly found in the Chimú area.

(Join us in 2 weeks for a continuation of Textiles and Baskets)

Cultures of the Ancient Americas: A Series in Parts.... (Part 4)

The Arizona Museum of Natural History has recently received major donations of objects from the American Southwest, Mesoamerica, and the Andes region of South America. The museum has opened a new exhibition, Cultures of the Ancient Americas, created solely from the new gifts. These magnificent objects offer insights into the cultures that produced them and underscore the monumental achievements of ancient peoples from New Mexico to Bolivia. We also celebrate the extraordinary generosity of our donors, who made the exhibition possible. Moche materials are the gift of Walter Knox of Scottsdale, AZ. Over the next several weeks AzMNH’s Museum Musings will highlight these objects and the cultures they represent, and suggest the special experience awaiting visitors to the exhibition.

Wari Empire and Regional States  (Section 4)

Chancay

Chancay culture arose on the central Peruvian coast in the Lima area, after the fall of the Wari Empire around 1000 CE, where it survived until approximately 1450 CE.  The central coast is a largely desert environment but includes fertile valleys that were used as irrigated farmland.  The ocean itself was the greatest source of dietary protein and fishing was important to the Chancay way of life.  Populations were politically linked but there was no overarching government.  The architecture was unremarkable with buildings made of poured adobe or tapia.  Chancay ceramics are distinctive for brown-black decoration on a poor quality white slip with the red of the terracotta often visible.  They are renowned for their textiles.  Artifacts are typically found in burials, which have a high frequency of being looted due to their proximity to Lima.

Female Figure
Chancay 800-1200 CE
Central Coast of Peru, Lima Area

Most standing figurines, cuchimilcos, were produced as a paired set of male and female.  The function is not known but they are often found in tombs and it is believed they were thought to ward off bad spirits or serve as guardians for the dead.  This Chancay female, hollow, brown-black on white figure has a flattened triangular head and standard masked eyes.  It is symmetrical with outstretched arms originally from another piece. Perforations along the top of the head were likely decorated with feathers.  Some clothing is painted on in gray-black geometric decoration, with diagonal rows of small stylized fish on both sides of her poncho.  It may have been dressed with cloth originally.

 
Female Figure of Wood
Chancay 800-1200 CE
Central Coast of Peru, Lima Area

This female figure is carved from wood and depicted holding a cup (kero).  The eyes are made of shell and the pupils are brown paint.  Black, red and white paints decorate the face and portions of the body.  In its original condition it would have been adorned in cloth and may even had real human hair on its head.  Wood was more commonly used for facial masks than full figures such as this.  It is unclear if, as is the case with ceramic anthropomorphic figures, this wooden figure was part of a paired male and female set.

            
 
Effigy Jar
Chancay 800-1200 CE
Central Coast of Peru, Lima Area

This large, anthropomorphic, brown-black on white with red egg-shape jar depicts a figure wearing a crown like headdress with relief and holding a cup or kero.  Chancay ceramic style is unusual for this period for the absence or rarity of stirrup spouts, double spout and bridge bottles, or polychrome slip paint, which are found in the preceding as well as contemporaneous and neighboring cultures.  Made in two-piece molds, Chancay pottery was often bulbous in shape and made from terracotta clay.  As the figure lacks any gender signifying features it is unknown if it represents a male or female.  Little is known about Chancay cultural and social habits but the headdress may indicate this represents a person of status.

Large Bulbous Figure with Bottle
Chancay 800-1200 CE
Central Coast of Peru, Lima Area

This large bulbous brown-black on white figure has a bottle strapped to her back and wears a geometrically decorated headband or hat that includes clay ornamentation.  In life Chancay women wore head cloths with complex designs and patterns.  The figure’s hands cover the straps to carry the bottle and her stomach appears slightly distended.  The distinctive eye decoration is believed to symbolize human fertility, therefore making it probable the figure is female and potentially of divine character.  Flawed ceramics are common, perhaps due to firing large batches in large kilns.  Unlike textiles, painted ceramics were available to and used by all levels of society.

 (Join us in 2 weeks for part 5, a series in textiles and baskets) 

Cultures of the Ancient Americas: A Series in Parts... (Part 4)

The Arizona Museum of Natural History has recently received major donations of objects from the American Southwest, Mesoamerica, and the Andes region of South America. The museum has opened a new exhibition, Cultures of the Ancient Americas, created solely from the new gifts. These magnificent objects offer insights into the cultures that produced them and underscore the monumental achievements of ancient peoples from New Mexico to Bolivia. We also celebrate the extraordinary generosity of our donors, who made the exhibition possible. Moche materials are the gift of Walter Knox of Scottsdale, AZ. Over the next several weeks AzMNH’s Museum Musings will highlight these objects and the cultures they represent, and suggest the special experience awaiting visitors to the exhibition.

Wari Empire and Regional States  (Section 3)

 Chimú

The capital of Chimú was Chan Chan, situated at the mouth of the Moche Valley.  Begun around 850 CE, Chan Chan grew to cover about eight square miles, and Chimú culture ultimately extended 800 miles along the Peruvian coast, with major expansions about 1200 and 1400.   Chan Chan’s architecture is notable for large residential palace compounds of adobe brick, perhaps the homes of elite lords and their descent groups.  Artisans produced metallurgy and textiles of the highest quality, and the city had specified areas for trade.  Llamas, the pack animals of ancient Peru, were buried in platforms at these terminals.  Craft production and trade were major elements of the Chimú economy.  Although there are fine examples of Chimú pottery, much ceramic production was mold-made and mass produced in a smudging atmosphere yielding a black finish.

 
Stirrup Vessel with Toucans and Monkey
Early Chimú, 900-1250 CE
North Coast of Peru

The little monkey at the junction between the stirrup and spout is characteristic of Chimú ceramics, as are the toucans at the intersection of the stirrup and the body of the jar.  Chimú ceramics are mold-made and mass produced.  Most are fired in a reducing atmosphere, which produced a black color.  A small percentage were fired in an oxidizing atmosphere, which produced reddish-brown pottery.

 
Stirrup Vessel
Chimú, 900-1450 CE
North Coast of Peru

A characteristic form of Chimú ceramics was the stirrup and spout vessel with a spherical body.  The upper half of the body of this bottle is divided into four areas, two on each side of the stirrup.  The right-hand image on each side depicts a human form with headdress; the left-hand image shows a seabird and fish.  The dots defining the background are a common feature of Chimú pottery, as is the little knob at the intersection of the stirrup and spout.  The bands around the bottom and across the top of the jar are carelessly painted black.

Effigy Bottle with Strap Handle
Chimú, 900-1450 CE
North Coast of Peru

This is the typical mold-made black Chimú ceramic.  The animal’s head resembles a sea lion, but its arms have digits rather than flippers, so the animal could be a generic feline.  It has a long tail.  Under the neck, one may see the line where the two clay halves from the mold were carelessly joined.  The raised stippling on the body of the animal is characteristic of Chimú ceramics, and could provide visual effect or texture to facilitate gripping.

Gift of Linda Gonzalez, Los Angeles, CA

(Join us in 2 weeks for Part 4, section 4 of Wari Empire and Regional States.)