South America
• Earliest art 8800 b.c.e.
• Time frame of focus: 1500 b.c.e. - 1550 b.c.
• West South America
– Dry Coast, mountains, rain forest
– Little Rain
• Shamanistic, Kingship
• Chavin, Parascas, Nasca, Moche, Tiwanaku, Wari,, Lambayeque, Chimu, Chancay & Inca
• Pottery, Gold, Textiles
• Condors, pumas, Llamas, jaguar, caiman, monkey, macaw, etc.
Worldview• Commonalities
– Huaca: “active interrelations”
– Camay: “create, manifest, infuse with energy”
– Ayni: “two make whole” (reciprocity, male/female)
– Tinku: “two to make a third”
– Pachakuti: embrace “change and flux”
– Ukhu: “interior” that is concealed but important
– Qumpi: preciousness, creativity, lavishness
• Cyclicality
• Sacred places, transference of energy
Chapter 2: Early and Chavin: Lithic Period, 10,000-3,000 b.c.e.
• Mummification –5000 b.c.–Chinchorro,
Chile–Dry–Textiles–Sedge plants
•Valdivia–4000 b.c.e.–Women–Fertility–Ritually killed
Cotton Pre-Ceramic Period 3000-1800 b.c.e.
• 3000 b.c.e.– Melting icecaps /
floods• Textiles• Finger woven• Loom?• Huaca Preita
– Weaving site– Twining– Warp (v)/ weft
(h)• Raptor
– Coiled snake• Hybridity• Ayni: 2 make whole
Great Pyramid at Caral, 2800 b.c.e.
•Earliest pyramid•60’•30 structures•160 acres•Plaster•White, yellow, red
•Platforms•Enlargements
– Shicras; rock fill
Caral Ampitheater
Temple of Crossed Hands, Kotosh, Huanuco (Peru), 2000-1800 b.c.e.,
• 2450 b.c.e.• 2 Adobe mounds• Buried• Protection• Duality
Rock painting of Pregnant Vicunas, Cuchimachay, Peru
• Pre-Ceramic period– 3000-1800
b.c.e.
• S. Peru• Rock Shelters• Hunting camps • Camelids
– Fertility– lifestyle
• Fewer Humans
Rock paintings, Cuchimachay, Peru
Rock paintings, Cuchimachay, Peru
Feline Head, Huaca de los Reyes, Caballo Muerto, Pre-
Ceramic, 1300 b.c.e., • Initial Period
– 1800-800 b.c.e.
– Sedentary– Looms– Fired clay statues– Pink, blue white– U-shaped structures
• Facing mountain (apus)
• Water
–Feline Head• 5’7”• painted
Lanzon Cult Image, Chavin, 900 – 200 b.c.e.
• Shamanistic practices• Spiders, insects, toads
Chavin de Huantar, Callejon de Conchucos, 1100-500 b.c.e.
• Valley
• U-shaped
• East facing
• Stone carvings
• Tenon heads
• White/black granite
Chavin de Huantar, Callejon de Conchucos, 1100-500 b.c.e. Sunken Circular Court Figures
Lanzon Cult Image, Chavin, 900 – 200 b.c.e.• “Great Lance”
– Blade– Farming– Oracle
• Monolith• 15’• Center of Old Temple
– 4 directions– World tree– Chakana
• Chavin Supreme Deity• Rain Forest
– Natural fertility– Entheogens (spirit within / Ukhu)– Twisted Pattern
• Universe Intertwined/Interdependent
• Offerings– Corn beer, water, gold, shell
Tenon Heads, Temple of Chavin de Huantar, 900 – 200 b.c.e.
• Tenon - pegged (100)
• Individualized
• Shamanistic transformation
Black and White Portal Reliefs, Chavin, 900 – 200 b.c.e., • New
Temple
• B/W stone portal
• Duality / Ahni
Black and White Portal Reliefs, Chavin, 900 – 200 b.c.e.,
• Anthropomorphic
• Beaks, fangs, tails, wings
• Male– Hawk
• Female– Vagina
Dentata– Eagle
Raimondi Stela, Chavin, 900
– 200 b.c.e.,
• Staff bearing deity
• Duality within single figure
• 7’• Granite• Upright/
inverted image
Chavin Textiles
• Cloth 3000 b.c.e.• Karwa burial site• Stone carvings at the
site of Chavin de Huantar.
• Staff God:–Clawed hands and feet,–Serpent hair, belt
• Cotton• Brown and pink die• Female figures
–Eyes as breats–Fanged vaginas–Intertwined staffs
Santa Ana Stirrup-spout vessel Chavin, 900-200 b.c.e.
• Incising, burnishing
• Jaguars, humans plants fruit
• Thin walls
• Stirrup = Tinku
• Santa Ana
– Red and black
– Fanged hads
– Pendent iris
Cupisnique
Thick / lip at top
Chapter 3: Paracas and NascaOculate Being, Paracas, 750 b.c.e. and 100 c.e.
• Early Horizon and Early Intermediate Period
• Peak 200-500 c.e.• Paracas and Nasca South Coast• Paracas - “Sand Falling like Rain”• Village Culture• Burial - bundles of textiles• Ceramics• Oculate: Holes for eyes• Fertility cult
– Stuck out tongue– Snakes– 2nd mask
• Repetition, variety, polychrome• Yellow, green, terracotta, white black• “Smudge blackware”• Painted resin• Post-fired painting
Mummy Bundle, Paracas
• Burial– Dry temperatures– Fetal position– Layers of textiles– 5,000 - 29,000
production hours– Nose rings, spondylus
shell necklace, embroidered garments
• Royalty - 7’ of cloth & offerings
• Commoner - cotton cloth, pottery
Embroidered Mantle, Paracas
• Linear Style• 200 b.c.e.• Cotton / wool• Series of outlines• Red green, gold, blue• Negative space part
of image• Columnar• Abstract felines,
birds, snakes, faces• Center - oculate
being• Access spirit realm• Master of the
Animals
Embroidered Mantle, Paracas
• Cotton/wool• Post-linear style• Series of outlines
filled in with color• Up to 19 colors• Recognizable beings• Transformation
Flying Shaman Mantle, Paracas
• 40 types
• Block color style
• Sacred mushroom
• Trance state pinwheel
• Polychrome
• Dynamic movement
Paracas Embroidery Styles
Nasca• Post-Paracas• Chiefdom• No genetic distinction• Similar subject matter and
ceramics• Different technology
– Slip (not post-fired)– Painting on cloth
• Ceramic style– Early naturalism– Later Abstract– Maroon gray and blue-grey
• Goldwork– Chavin, Paracas tradition– Gold/copper– Thin sheets
Nasca CeramicsDouble Spout and
Bridge Vessel • Achira - cactus plant
• Zig-zags
• Contrasting color
• Hand-built
• Slip
• Wheel to shape
Double Spout and Bridge Vessel with Battle Scene, Nasca
Nasca Pottery
Flying Shaman Vessel, Nasca
• Middle Nasca
• Increased design
• Abstraction
• Flying beings
• Feline/Human
• Shamanistic
• Visions
Nasca Geoglyphs• Subtractive
drawings• Dark over light
stones• 130 sq. mi.• Features:
– Point towards Sun Rainy Season
– Direction of Streams
– Connect rivers
• Process– Obseration– Fires
• Purpose– Calendar– Map– Clan– Fertility– Ceremony