Society
Ancient Andean societies were unusual in their development of and reliance on textiles in all areas of life. Textiles were invented and developed long before pottery and they were used for communication as well as artistic expression. The quipu [1] was used for numerical and other data. The home region and social status of a person could be precisely identified by the clothes they wore [2]. Major life events, such as reaching adulthood, marriage and death could all be marked by the creation of a new textile. Most of the Ancient Andean textiles we see today were obtained from burials.
Hundreds, even thousands of hours were devoted to the making of a single textile, such as [3]. Nearly all members of society, from the highest to the lowest, male and female, were involved in the textile industry - sowing the cotton seed and raising the alpaca [4] which provided most of the fibres, and spinning, dyeing and weaving.
The ancient Peruvians conveyed their belief in the spiritual power of textiles through the care taken in their creation as well as through their designs. Consequently, efficiency of production was often secondary to finished results.
"No political, military, social or religious event was complete," writes John V. Murra, "without textiles being volunteered or bestowed, burned, exchanged or sacrificed."
Hundreds, even thousands of hours were devoted to the making of a single textile, such as [3]. Nearly all members of society, from the highest to the lowest, male and female, were involved in the textile industry - sowing the cotton seed and raising the alpaca [4] which provided most of the fibres, and spinning, dyeing and weaving.
The ancient Peruvians conveyed their belief in the spiritual power of textiles through the care taken in their creation as well as through their designs. Consequently, efficiency of production was often secondary to finished results.
"No political, military, social or religious event was complete," writes John V. Murra, "without textiles being volunteered or bestowed, burned, exchanged or sacrificed."
A seventeenth century illustration from a book by Guaman Poma, a native Andean. Shown here is the September festival of the month of the queen. The male celebrants wear tunics of patterned textiles decorated in differing ways, with borders, panels and all-over prints. The emphasis when weaving was on wholeness, where garments such as these tunics were woven in one piece with holes for the head and the arms. (Guaman Poma 1615:254 Courtesy of The Royal Danish Library).
