Ancient Andean Headgear: Medium and Measure of Cultural Identity

From the earliest recorded periods of southern Andean history, distinctive clothing styles have served to identity specific socio-cultural groups and provide clues about cultural origins. Unique environmental conditions, especially present along the arid Pacific coast of South America, have allowed the preservation of a vast archive of usually perishable material. From the far south coast of Peru to the northern desert regions of Chile, textiles, and especially headgear forms were worn to distinguish between the diverse populations who established permanent settlements along the narrow river valleys linking highland regions and the coast. The south central Andes region has always known a considerable amount of cultural contact, and a similar widespread textile tradition developed within the area. In most archaeological collections, warp-faced woven camelid-fiber cloth predominates, created with 2-ply yarns first spun in the Z direction and plied S. It is generally assumed that during many periods highland cultures based around Lake Titicaca exerted considerable influence upon the coast, and this basic woven tradition may have originated there. However, the criteria used to identify highland and coastal traits remains elusive. Textiles, the artifacts most useful in discussing cultural and ethnic identity, are preserved only along the coast. Perishable materials are rarely found in highland contexts, where seasonal rains destroy organic artifacts. The most easily recognized highland traits are those found in designs which imitate images carved on highland stone sculptures or painted on ceramics. However, most textile remains are simple, unpatterned fabrics. Within archaeological collections, we must identify traits, other than design, which might be site- or region-specific, and which might suggest borrowing between regions, or blending of cultural groups; traits such as form, fiber, and structure. In an attempt to read the message of cultural identity with the medium of archaeological textiles, we present data from collections excavated in two separate river valleys, representing two distinct periods in Andean cultural history. Evidence of an early coastal-related culture (dated 800 BC–AD 100) has been found at the Caserones site in the Tarapaca Valley of northern Chile, while the late prehistoric Estuquina site in the Moquegua Valley of far southern Peru (dated AD 1100–1450) is a small, locally adapted, mid-valley village with basic highland attributes. To illuminate the specific ways in which pre-conquest Andeans presented themselves to others, we have chosen to examine headgear, or gorros, a traditional male Andean accessory and an object especially sensitive to ethnic identity

Of Gods and Men, Ancestors and Tapestry in the Central Andes

During the Andean Middle Horizon, a period that lasted from approximately the eighth to perhaps the twelfth century, a new religion swept the Peruvian coast. In the previous period, known as the Early Intermediate, no single culture nor religion could characterize the entire region. Instead Paracas and later Nasca in the south, Lima in central Peru, and Moche in the north, each developed independent and very strong traditions that included distinct customs, deities, garment styles, textile structures, architecture, and burial pattern. This paper discusses the period following these seemingly strong and independent local cultural traditions along the Peruvian coast when a new religion spread from the adjacent highlands in association with the Wari culture (Figure 1). Some see the spread of Wari as distinctly militaristic and others as a more passive adoption of a new religion following local cultural decline and perhaps both of these scenarios formed part of this developing Peruvian complex (lsbel and McEwan 1991; Shimada 1991)

The Women Of Coyo: Tradition And Innovation In Andean Prehistory, San Pedro De Atacama, North Chile (A.D. 500-900)

Beginning in the second century and continuing until the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, the inhabitants of the large cluster of oases known as San Pedro in the Atacama desert of northern Chile buried their dead in the desert, in areas adjacent to shaded habitation sites and irrigated agricultural fields (Figure 1). The scarce oasis lands have been reused over the millennium and little former architectural evidence survives, however the cemeteries and the people themselves have been preserved. The arid Atacama desert has allowed the uncommon preservation of a vast quantity of prehistoric textiles and other usually perishable materials. Complete funeral bundles dating between the sixth and the tenth centuries have been uncovered in Coyo Oriental, the ancient eastern cemetery of the Coyo oasis. Not all bundles have been preserved equally, but remaining evidence suggests that a bundle included multiple layers of tunics, mantles and headdresses tied with strong camelid fiber ropes often surrounded by tools, weapons, food remains, bags, baskets and ceramics. Most reconstructions of Atacama prehistory discuss the ceramic component and identify a single indigenous population residing in the oases of San Pedro (Berenguer et. al. 1986,1988; Le Paige 1964; Tarrago 1968). But ceramics are not always present as burial offerings and, within the Southern Andes, ceramics could hardly be expected to provide the same intimate definition of personal identity as an analysis of the textiles could provide. Modern weaving in indigenous communities of the Southern Andes is known for its brilliant and intricate color and patterning which is ethnic-specific. In this area textiles are one of the most important aspects of material culture maintained by indigenous populations to define ethnic identity (Medlin 1991; Seibold 1992; Zorn 1990). There is nothing in the archaeological record to suggest that prehistoric Andean weaving was different. The multiple clothing styles represented in the ancient Coyo Oriental cemetery describe not a single homogenous culture, but multiethnic burials and possible multiethnic communities within the original Coyo oasis. Style and Place At least two separate groups of men, women, and children were buried in the Coyo Oriental cemetery and undoubtedly originally shared the Coyo oasis during the sixth to the tenth centuries A.D. One group was probably local deriving from an earlier San Pedro tradition, and the other highland, connected with the Bolivian altiplano and the cultural, political and economic center of Tiwanaku (A.D. 300- 1000) whose preeminence in the southern Andes parallels the Coyo occupation. Tiwanaku artifacts in San Pedro de Atacama have originally been described as exchanged items connected within a circulating llama caravan traffic (Browman 1980; Nunez and Dillehay 1979). But foreign textiles and artifacts might alternatively be considered as imported objects directly associated with original foreign populations. The present analysis supports just this hypothesis. Elaborate Tiwanaku tapestry tunics and mantles uncovered in Coyo, which I described in an earlier paper (Oakland 1986), were all connected with a specific set of warp-faced garments. These textiles are quite distinct from the local garment style evident not only in Coyo, but also in a variety of additional oases locations suggesting a much wider spread local style. The concept of style has recently generated a wealth of anthropological discussion (Conkey and Hastorf 1990; Sackett 1982,1990 among others). My own addition to the literature (Oakland Rodman n.d.) based in textile analysis from the Coyo Oriental cemetery, suggests that specifically designed and executed textile style was maintained by prehistoric ethnic groups as the principal emblem of group identification, similar to its use in contemporary indigenous Andean communities. For the purposes of the present paper in attempting to specify and visualize the past, the clothing and associated artifacts recovered with the highland woman with the red mantle (a woman buried with a red Tiwanaku tapestry mantle) will be used as a contrast to the weaving styles of two local sisters (a hypothetical familialtie: two women sharing the same tomb with closely related textiles). The separate styles were used in Coyo synchronically as ceramic associations and radiocarbon determinations suggest (600-900 A.D.). Groups were originally identified through a variety of other criteria, especially the male headdress form which is shared by men within groups but is distinctive between groups. The headdress center is particularly diagnostic: locals loop spiral designs and highlanders knot checked or diamond designs. Status differentiation is difficult to determine between groups. The highland woman\u27s burial was equipped with more textiles than the local women, but her female companion buried in the same tomb had very few textile associations. Within the larger collection, the non-textile artifacts do perhaps suggest a greater status afforded the highland group in Coyo. But the textiles illuminate the distinctiveness and technical expertise apparent in both groups

Ancient Andean Headgear: Medium and Measure of Cultural Identity

From the earliest recorded periods of southern Andean history, distinctive clothing styles have served to identity specific socio-cultural groups and provide clues about cultural origins. Unique environmental conditions, especially present along the arid Pacific coast of South America, have allowed the preservation of a vast archive of usually perishable material. From the far south coast of Peru to the northern desert regions of Chile, textiles, and especially headgear forms were worn to distinguish between the diverse populations who established permanent settlements along the narrow river valleys linking highland regions and the coast. The south central Andes region has always known a considerable amount of cultural contact, and a similar widespread textile tradition developed within the area. In most archaeological collections, warp-faced woven camelid-fiber cloth predominates, created with 2-ply yarns first spun in the Z direction and plied S. It is generally assumed that during many periods highland cultures based around Lake Titicaca exerted considerable influence upon the coast, and this basic woven tradition may have originated there. However, the criteria used to identify highland and coastal traits remains elusive. Textiles, the artifacts most useful in discussing cultural and ethnic identity, are preserved only along the coast. Perishable materials are rarely found in highland contexts, where seasonal rains destroy organic artifacts. The most easily recognized highland traits are those found in designs which imitate images carved on highland stone sculptures or painted on ceramics. However, most textile remains are simple, unpatterned fabrics. Within archaeological collections, we must identify traits, other than design, which might be site- or region-specific, and which might suggest borrowing between regions, or blending of cultural groups; traits such as form, fiber, and structure. In an attempt to read the message of cultural identity with the medium of archaeological textiles, we present data from collections excavated in two separate river valleys, representing two distinct periods in Andean cultural history. Evidence of an early coastal-related culture (dated 800 BC–AD 100) has been found at the Caserones site in the Tarapaca Valley of northern Chile, while the late prehistoric Estuquina site in the Moquegua Valley of far southern Peru (dated AD 1100–1450) is a small, locally adapted, mid-valley village with basic highland attributes. To illuminate the specific ways in which pre-conquest Andeans presented themselves to others, we have chosen to examine headgear, or gorros, a traditional male Andean accessory and an object especially sensitive to ethnic identity

A Comparison of Marine and Terrestrial Radiocarbon Ages from Northern Chile

The calibration of radiocarbon dates on marine materials involves a global marine calibration with regional corrections. Data from well-associated marine and terrestrial materials in archaeological artifacts from northern Chile indicated that the calibration is valid for the period AD 200-900 and suggest that coastal upwelling intensities during that period were similar to those of the early 20th century.This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries.The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

Us and Them: Archaeology and Ethnicity in the Andes

This volume brings together a corpus of scholars whose work collectively represents a significant advancement in the study of prehistoric ethnicity in the Andean region. The assembled research represents an outstanding collection of theoretical and methodological approaches, and conveys recent discoveries in several subfields of prehistoric Andean anthropology, including spatial archaeology, mortuary archaeology, textile studies, ceramic analysis, and biological anthropology. Many of the authors in this volume apply novel research techniques, while others wield more established approaches in original ways. Although the research presented in this volume has occurred in the Andean region, many of the novel methods applied will be applicable to other geographic regions, and it is hoped that this research will stimulate others to pursue future innovative work in the prehistoric study of ethnic identification

Us and Them: Archaeology and Ethnicity in the Andes

This volume brings together a corpus of scholars whose work collectively represents a significant advancement in the study of prehistoric ethnicity in the Andean region. The assembled research represents an outstanding collection of theoretical and methodological approaches, and conveys recent discoveries in several subfields of prehistoric Andean anthropology, including spatial archaeology, mortuary archaeology, textile studies, ceramic analysis, and biological anthropology. Many of the authors in this volume apply novel research techniques, while others wield more established approaches in original ways. Although the research presented in this volume has occurred in the Andean region, many of the novel methods applied will be applicable to other geographic regions, and it is hoped that this research will stimulate others to pursue future innovative work in the prehistoric study of ethnic identification