Andean Arts

PARACAS

The Peruvian South Coast is a narrow desert strip. Arable land is restricted to the river valleys, and some of them do not have surface water year round. Therefore, it is not surprising that agricultural abundance was a concern to the civilizations that inhabited the South Coast, like the Paracas peoples, and that this concern is reflected in their art. 

The Paracas buried their dead in mummy bundles.  The body was placed in fetal position and then wrapped with layers of textiles. The Paracas civilization was first studied in the early 20th century by Julio C. Tello, who excavated hundreds of these mummy bundles in the Paracas Peninsula.  Tello identified two different types of tombs that contained Paracas mummy bundles. One tomb type consisted of a cylindrical shaft that led to a circular chamber (bottle-shaped), which Tello called Cavernas (meaning "caves" or "caverns" in Spanish).  The second tomb type consisted of rectangular chambers and he named this type of tomb Necropolis.  The very nature of the civilization or civilizations that produced objects that we call Paracas is still a matter of debate, however. 

PARACAS TEXTILES

The names Cavernas and Necropolis have also been used to categorize textiles found in Paracas sites. Paracas Cavernas textiles are woven in a loom and designs are structurally part of the textiles. Color is limited and designs are rectilinear and highly stylized.  Motifs are formed with repeated parallel lines, usually black or yellow on a red background.  None of these motifs are completely filled in with another color, so the background color is always visible.   The grid-like organization of many of these motifs is likely due to the fact that the artists had to work within the structure of warps and wefts that make the fabric (see section titled “Textile Techniques”).

Paracas Necropolis textiles, on the other hand, are not decorated with motifs that are structurally woven into the textiles.  Instead, Necropolis textiles are all decorated with embroidery.  This means that a plain weave textile is prepared first and the designs are sewn onto this textile with different colored threads (i.e., the designs are notstructurally part of the fabric, but are sewn with supplementary threads to a preexisting support).  The distinction between Cavernas and Necropolis textiles is therefore primarily based on techniques. 

There are different styles of Necropolis embroideries and, interestingly, one of these imitates the style, conventions, and iconography of Cavernas textiles.  This style of Necropolis embroideries is called Linear Style. In Cavernas textiles, angular forms and the use of a grid-like design are due to the limitations of the warp and weft structure in the textile.  In an embroidery, however, one does not have these limitations because the designs are sewn onto the premade support. Regardless, Linear Style embroideries imitate these characteristics in order to maintain the style of Cavernas designs even if they are not using the same techniques.  

The border fragment seen here, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, displays the style and color scheme characteristic of the Linear Style of Necropolis embroideries. Figures are defined by parallel lines in yellow, black, or green. They stand out against a red “background".” However, the red color of the background can also be seen within the figures. We can also see smaller representations of stylized animals within those larger figures, as if we are looking at an X-ray, making these figures appear somewhat transparent, lacking solidity. There is a limited color scheme and a sense of repetition in this textile’s figures, but some variation is created by rotating the figures to change their orientation. The colors used on the lines also vary from figure to figure. All of these colors, including the reduced in the background, are embroidered, so they have been sewn onto the pre-made support, a plain weave cloth. Although stylistically and iconographically, this border resembles Paracas Cavernas textiles, the fact that the entire composition is embroidered makes this a Paracas Necropolis textile.

Another style of Necropolis embroideries is called Block Color Style.  Block Color embroideries have a wider range of colors than Linear Style embroideries.  Forms are filled-in with different colors, unlike Cavernas or Linear Style designs, and this makes these motifs and figures stand out in contrast against the background.  Furthermore, motifs and figures in Block Color textiles are also not angular like those of Linear Style embroideries.  Rounded, more organic, forms are the norm in Block Color designs. 

In the Border Fragment from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, seen above, there are repeated embroiled motifs representing anthropomorphic figures, and these change in scale, orientation, and color scheme to provide some variation to an otherwise repetitive design. In contrast to the Linear Style designs, these figures are completely filled-in with color, making them clearly visible from a distance. Positive forms are clearly distinct from the negative space around them. All of these are the characteristics of the Necropolis Block Color style. One can also see here that there is a greater emphasis on curvilinear forms on the bodies and limbs of the figures, which is dramatically different from the rigid lines on the Linear Style designs. All of this results in a greater sense of fluidity and movement.

At the site of Ocucaje, in the Ica Valley, mummy bundles used another type of decorated textile:  painted textile mummy masks.  These textiles are often decorated with a type of figure called the Oculate Being, who also appears in Linear Style embroideries.  The Oculate Being has large eyes with concentric circles and a smiling mouth.  Streamers may emerge from its head or body, and these may end in trophy head representations and have serrated edges.  Its nose may be a pendant nose, i.e. a long form that descends from the upper contour of the head, and small, parallel, vertical lines may be depicted on the upper portion of the head.

During the early portion of the Early Intermediate Period, the Paracas developed a very complex textile making technique which we call discontinued warp and weft due to its structure (see “Textile Techniques” section).  This textile technique is unique to this area and is a great example of the virtuosity of early weavers in the Andean region.