Pisco and Ica valleys. The peninsula s arid climate and vast sandy terrain explain the extraordinary state of conservation of the archaeological remai

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1 Paracas Culture: The Paracas culture developed between 800 B.C and 100 A.D in several valleys of Peru s southern coast, from Chincha in the North to Nazca in the South, with important centers in Ica and Pisco. The Paracas people lived in seasonal camps consisting of a series adjoining single dwellings or a group of houses with stone walls mortared with a combination of seaweed, domestic waste and seashells. They subsisted on corn, squash, beans, yucca, seaweed, fish and marine mammals. Combining the cotton grown in the coastal valleys with camelid fiber yarn they obtained through trade with mountain peoples, the weavers produced elaborated textiles that were found in the tombs, a high-prestige burial centers. The Americas first indigenous archeologist Julio C. Tello ( ) divided Paracas culture into two periods which he called: Paracas Cavernas (1000 B.C. 500 B.C.) and Paracas Necropolis (500 B.C. 200 A.D.). During the Paracas Cavernas stage, the influence of Chavin the first great tradition in Andean cultural history are apparent in textile motifs. Singleelement techniques were employed such as nets, fabrics showing the use of needles, braiding and twisting. In addition to this, wide use was made of brocading, embroidery, simple and painted fabrics, as well as double cloths. While at this stage the textiles had not yet achieved their greatest expression, some items from this period painted cloths, bands, sashes and small ponchos are outstanding. Although embroidered textiles are not unheard of the Cavernas stage, it was not until later, in the Paracas Necropolis stage, that they achieved true excellence. In early 1920 s, some antiquities of extremely outstanding quality from Lima were being sold on the illegal market, though their provenance was uncertain and age unknown. Beginning in 1925, Tello and his team began searching for the origins of these textiles concentrating their reconnaissance and excavations on the Paracas Peninsula, 250 km south of Lima, between the

2 Pisco and Ica valleys. The peninsula s arid climate and vast sandy terrain explain the extraordinary state of conservation of the archaeological remains found here, including the fine mantles and other Paracas Necropolis textiles. In 1927, at the foot of rocky promontory known as Wari Kayán, Tello discovered large cemeteries which consisted of different compartments or underground chambers containing hundreds of packages of funerary bundles, buried three to fifteen feet below ground. In this excavations of Wari Kayán, Each bundle is a large package formed of multiple textile pieces wrapped around a human cadaver. Tello unearthed 429 bundles. Between 1930 and 1960 hundreds of them were opened and inventoried bringing to light a treasure of textiles, that included hundreds of woven and embroidered cloths (shrouds, garments and other items), as well as considerable number of grave goods made of ceramic, precious metals, stones, feathers and other organic materials. The Paracas people had a very special way of preparing their dead for burial. The cranium was sometimes sliced open, in part to allow the extraction of the brain through the base of the cranium. The thorax was almost always opened at the sternum to remove the heart and the lungs. The abdomen was opened as well with a large vertical or horizontal incision so the intestines and entrails could be taken out. In some cases incisions were made to extract the arm and legs muscles. The body was bound tightly to keep it in ball-like position and the empty spaces were filled with small garments to form the oval-shaped bundle, which was placed into a basket. The bundle was then wrapped in successive layers of cotton (two or three shrouds of cotton up to 20m long) and plain cloth alternating with several layers of embroidered cloth and more small items of clothing. Some bodies were adorned with seashell necklaces, diadems, nose rings and other gold ornaments. The entire bundle was formed into a conical shape in which the tip or false head represented the head of deceased and was sometimes crowned with an intricate headdress.

3 In Paracas Necropolis, although not very different from Pracas Cavernas, an outstanding feature was manufacturing of lace and the use of threedimensional needlework. The skill displayed in the spinning, dyeing and textiles themselves means that these cloths are among the finest in the world. Starting from a basic 7 colors, they used up to 190 different shades and in one single cloth there are up to 22 of them. The funerary bundles discovered in Paracas Necropolis were organized into groups and their hierarchy being shown by the quality and quantity of textiles which they were wrapped in. Some of these cloths were enormous mantles that had been very finely finished (with multicolored embroidery, feather applications, etc.). A mantle has as its base a woolen or cotton fabric onto which have been embroidered, with wool, very small polychrome motifs which usually appear in different combinations. They depicted mythological beings and more frequently flowers and geometric motifs. The chromatic balance is perfect. The most outstanding and often repeated pattern is a very dark blue background with large embroidered areas in a light grass-green color within which there are yellow motifs. The vast majority of Paracas textiles are embroidered and fall into two main stylistic groups, Linear and Block Color (some authors also distinguish the Broad Line style). The two styles differ greatly, from straight lines to curves, and from few colors in thin lines to a full palette in broad expenses. The creative process was almost opposite as well. In Linear Style the thread is simply sewn in and out of the ground cloth, always in the forward motion, In Block Color, stem stitches (forward, half-backward, forward) were taken forming a line of slightly overlapping diagonals. When massed up, both styles create strong color areas covering a large amount of the ground cloth. This in itself is an unusual use of embroidery, a technique rarely used for coverage but rather for intermittent accents. In Paracas society textiles played an important role in visual communication, and especially in transmitting religious ideas and beliefs. While some

4 embroidered motifs are abstract, other form complex visual metaphors that allude to the natural environment, society and rituals. They also relate to cosmic powers and attributes, which are also represented metaphorically through elements of flora and fauna. Masked figures with animals-like features (unless they are supernatural creatures from a mythical pantheon or representations of ancestors with abnormal powers) are transformed into felines, birds or orcas. From their mouths or bodies radiate appendages in the shape of serpents or plants and many brandish weapons and severed human heads. Another common figure is a Big-Eyed Being inherited from the Chavin. This being is represented in frontal view enormous round eyes and the wavy appendages ending in snake or human heads. There are also realistic figures with head facing backward and unbounded hair (interpreted as shamans in flight), hunchbacked shamans, shamans linked to orcas and finally mythical beings associated with crop fertility. Radiocarbon dating shows that both the Paracas Necropolis and Topará cemeteries were in use from approximately 100 B.C. to 200 A.D. which is virtually contemporary with the Early Nasca stage. Nasca society flourished on the southern Peruvian coast (valleys of Ica, Nasca, Palpa, Pisco and Rio Grande) between 100 B.C and 600 A.D. important phenomenon of the Nasca culture was urban development densely concentrated dwellings with open plazas (towns of Pisco, Ica, Nasca and Arequipa). Nasca people made enormous line drawings, known as the lines of the Nasca pampas many of which were very complex, connected to agriculture, the calendar and the astronomy. The drawings include different types of birds, a monkey (80m long), a spider (46m), a lizard (200m), a fish (24m), a feline, several flowers, plants and complex geometric figures in the shape of spirals, broken lines, and extremely long lines. Some of the figures have features of the Paracas culture, which points to a greater antiquity, but most of them corresponds to the design which have been found on Nasca textiles and ceramics.

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