Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-8wtlm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-26T18:28:57.336Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prehispanic Highland Textile Technologies: A View from the First Millennium AD at Hualcayán, Ancash, Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 June 2021

M. Elizabeth Grávalos Open the ORCID record for M. Elizabeth Grávalos [Opens in a new window]  and
Rebecca E. Bria
M. Elizabeth Grávalos*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Behavioral Sciences Building M/C 027, 1007 West Harrison Str., Chicago, IL 60607, USA
Rebecca E. Bria
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas–San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
*
(mgrava2@uic.edu, corresponding author)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The exceptional preservation of perishable artifacts on the arid west coast of the Andes has led to an abundance of knowledge on prehispanic textile production. Yet comparatively little of this knowledge is based on highland examples due to their poor preservation in the moist environment of the Andean sierra. Systematic excavations in 2011–2012 at the archaeological complex of Hualcayán in highland Ancash, Peru, revealed surprisingly well-preserved textiles and cordage from four partially looted machay-style tombs. In this article we provide an overview of textile forms, production techniques, and iconography from a sample of 292 textile and cordage fragments, equaling 20% of Hualcayán's assemblage. This work contributes to a better understanding of ancient Andean weaving in general and interregional interaction during the Early Intermediate period and Middle Horizon (ca. AD 1–1000) in particular. Significantly, we document variability in cotton yarn and a general uniformity in camelid yarn and weaving techniques in the overall sample. These findings, in combination with similarities in weaving techniques and style between coastal examples and Hualcayán's fabrics, suggest a coastal–highland relationship.

La excepcional preservación de artefactos perecederos en la costa árida oeste de los Andes ha permitido un abundante conocimiento sobre textiles prehispánicos. Sin embargo, comparativamente poco de este conocimiento viene de ejemplos andinos dada su mala preservación en el ambiente húmedo de la sierra. Excavaciones sistemáticas entre 2011–2012 en el complejo arqueológico de Hualcayán en la sierra de Ancash, Perú revelaron la presencia de textiles y de cordelería bien preservados, procedentes de cuatro tumbas estilo machay parcialmente huaqueadas. En este artículo presentamos un resumen de las formas, las técnicas de producción, y la iconografía de una muestra de 292 textiles y cordelería, la que representa 20% de la colección de Hualcayán. Este trabajo contribuye a un mayor conocimiento sobre el tejer en los Andes antiguos en general y de la interacción interregional durante el Periodo Intermedio Temprano y el Horizonte Medio (ca. 1–1000 dC) en particular. Significativamente, se documentó una variabilidad en hilos de algodón en la muestra y una uniformidad general de los hilos de camélido y las técnicas de tejido en la muestra total. Estos resultados, en combinación con las semejanzas en técnicas de tejer y estilo entre ejemplos de la costa y los tejidos de Hualcayán, sugieren una relación entre la costa y la sierra.

Keywords

Andean archaeologytextile analysiscommunities of practiceinterregional interactionArqueología andinaanálisis de textilescomunidades de prácticainteracción interregional

Information

Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , December 2021 , pp. 781 - 799
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References Cited

Adovasio, James M. 1975 The Textile and Basketry Impressions from Jarmo. Paléorient 3:223–230.10.3406/paleo.1975.4198CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angeles, Rommel, and Pozzi-Escot, Denise 2000 Textiles del Horizonte Medio: Las evidencias de Huaca Malena, valle de Asia. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 4:401–424.Google Scholar
Arnold, Denise Y., and Dransart, Penelope (editors) 2014 Textiles, Technical Practice, and Power in the Andes. Archetype, London.Google Scholar
Bergh, Susan E. 2012 Tapestry-Woven Tunics. In Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes, edited by Bergh, Susan E., pp. 159–192. Thames and Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Bird, Junius B. 1949 Techniques. In Andean Culture History, edited by Bennett, Wendell C. and Bird, Junius B., pp. 245–293. American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Bird, Junius B. 1979 Fibers and Spinning Procedures in the Andean Area. In The Junius B. Bird Pre-Columbian Textile Conference, edited by Rowe, Ann Pollard, Benson, Elizabeth P., and Schaffer, Anne-Louise, pp. 13–18. Textile Museum and Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bolin, Inge 2006 Growing up in a Culture of Respect: Child Rearing in Highland Peru. University of Texas Press, Austin.10.7560/709829CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowser, Brenda J., and Patton, James Q. 2008 Learning and Transmission of Pottery Style: Women's Life Histories and Communities of Practice in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In Cultural Transmission and Material Culture: Breaking Down Boundaries, edited by Stark, Miriam T., Bowser, Brenda J., and Horne, Lee, pp. 105–129. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Bria, Rebecca E. 2017 Ritual, Economy, and the Construction of Community at Ancient Hualcayán (Ancash, Peru). PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.Google Scholar
Budden, Sandy, and Sofaer, Joanna 2009 Non-Discursive Knowledge and the Construction of Identity Potters, Potting and Performance at the Bronze Age Tell of Százhalombatta, Hungary. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 19:203–220.10.1017/S0959774309000274CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burger, Richard L., Mohr Chavez, Karen L., and Chavez, Sergio J. 2000 Through the Glass Darkly: Prehispanic Obsidian Procurement and Exchange in Southern Peru and Northern Bolivia. Journal of World Prehistory 14:267–362.10.1023/A:1026509726643CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callañaupa Alvarez, Nilda 2007 Weaving in the Peruvian Highlands: Dreaming Patterns, Weaving Memories. Translated by Burrous, David. Center for the Traditional Textiles of Cusco, Peru.Google Scholar
Carr, Christopher, and Maslowski, Robert F. 1995 Cordage and Fabrics: Relating Form, Technology, and Social Processes. In Style, Society, and Person: Archaeological and Ethnological Perspectives, edited by Carr, Christopher and Neitzel, Jill E., pp. 297–343. Plenum Press, New York.10.1007/978-1-4899-1097-4_9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conklin, William J. 1975 Pampa Gramalote Textiles. In Archaeological Textiles: Irene Emery Roundtable on Museum Textiles, 1974 Proceedings, edited by Fiske, Patricia L., pp. 77–92. Textile Museum, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Cook, Anita G. 1996 The Emperor's New Clothes: Symbols of Royalty, Hierarchy, and Identity. Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society 24:85–120.Google Scholar
Cruzado Carranza, Elizabeth K. 2016 Characterizing the Mortuary Practices in Highland Ancash, Perú: Analysis of Funerary Contexts at Hualcayán. Master's thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis, Tennessee.Google Scholar
D'Harcourt, Raoul 1962 Textiles of Ancient Peru and Their Techniques. Edited by Grace G. Denny and Carolyn M. Osborne. Translated by Brown, Sadie. University of Washington Press, Seattle.Google Scholar
Dietler, Michael, and Herbich, Ingrid 1998 Habitus, Techniques, Style: An Integrated Approach to the Social Understanding of Material Culture and Boundaries. In The Archaeology of Social Boundaries, edited by Stark, Miriam T., pp. 232–263. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Dobres, Marcia-Anne 2000 Technology and Social Agency. Blackwell, Malden, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Doyon-Bernard, S. J. 1990 From Twining to Triple Cloth: Experimentation and Innovation in Ancient Peruvian Weaving (ca. 5000–400 B.C.). American Antiquity 55:68–87.10.2307/281493CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dransart, Penelope Z. 2002 Earth, Water, Fleece and Fabric. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Emery, Irene 1966 The Primary Structures of Fabrics: An Illustrated Classification. Textile Museum, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Franquemont, Edward M. 1986 Cloth Production Rates in Chinchero, Peru. In The Junius B. Bird Conference on Andean Textiles, edited by Rowe, Ann Pollard, pp. 309–330. Textile Museum, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Gero, Joan M. 1992 Feasts and Females: Gender Ideology and Political Meals in the Andes. Norwegian Archaeological Review 25:15–30.10.1080/00293652.1992.9965542CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gero, Joan M. 1999 La iconografía Recuay y el estudio de genero. Gaceta Arqueológica Andina 25:23–44.Google Scholar
Goodell, Grace 1968 A Study of Andean Spinning in the Cuzco Region. Textile Museum Journal 7:2–8.Google Scholar
Grávalos, M. Elizabeth 2014 Conceptualizing Community Identity through Ancient Textiles: Technology and the Uniformity of Practice at Hualcayán, Peru. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana.Google Scholar
Grieder, Terence, Mendoza, Alberto Bueno, Smith, C. Earle Jr., and Malina, Robert M. 1988 La Galgada, Peru: A Preceramic Culture in Transition. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Hendon, Julia A. 2006 Textile Production as Craft in Mesoamerica: Time, Labor and Knowledge. Journal of Social Archaeology 6:354–378.10.1177/1469605306067841CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrera, Alexander C. W. 2005 Territory and Identity in the Pre-Columbian Andes of Northern Peru. PhD dissertation, Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Ingold, Tim 2000 Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Jolie, Edward A., Lynch, Thomas F., Geib, Phil R., and Adovasio, J. M. 2011 Cordage, Textiles, and the Late Pleistocene Peopling of the Andes. Current Anthropology 52:285–296.10.1086/659336CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lau, George F. 2002 Feasting and Ancestor Veneration at Chinchawas, North Highlands of Ancash, Peru. Latin American Antiquity 13:279–304.10.2307/972112CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lau, George F. 2011 Andean Expressions: Art and Archaeology of the Recuay Culture. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.10.2307/j.ctt20mvf33CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lau, George F. 2012 Intercultural Relations in Northern Peru: The North Central Highlands during the Middle Horizon. Boletín de Arqueología PUCP 16: 23–52.Google Scholar
Lau, George F. 2014 On Textiles and Alterity in the Recuay culture. In Textiles, Technical Practice, and Power in the Andes, edited by Arnold, Denise Y. and Dransart, Penelope Z., pp. 319–335. Archetype, London.Google Scholar
Lau, George F. 2016 An Archaeology of Ancash: Stones, Ruins, and Communities in Andean Peru. Routledge, London.10.4324/9781315708201CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lave, Jean, and Wenger, Etienne 1991 Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9780511815355CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leroi-Gourhan, André 1945 Milieu et techniques. Éditions Albin Michel, Paris.Google Scholar
López Campeny, Sara 2000 Tecnología, iconografía y ritual funerario: Tres dimensiones de análisis de los textiles formativos del sitio Punta de la Peña 9 (Antofagasta de la Sierra, Argentina). Estudios Atacameños 20:29–66.10.22199/S07181043.2000.0020.00003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mauss, Marcel 2006 [1935] Les Techniques du Corps. In Marcel Mauss: Techniques, Technology and Civilization, edited by Schlanger, Nathan, pp. 77–95. Durkheim Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Medlin, Mary Ann 1986 Learning to Weave in Calcha, Bolivia. In The Junius B. Bird Conference on Andean Textiles, edited by Rowe, Ann Pollard, pp. 275–287. Textile Museum, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Meisch, Lynn 1998 Spinning. In Costume and Identity in Highland Ecuador, edited by Rowe, Ann Pollard, pp. 22–25. Textile Museum, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Minar, C. Jill 2001 Motor Skills and the Learning Process: The Conservation of Cordage Final Twist Direction in Communities of Practice. Journal of Anthropological Research 57:381–405.10.1086/jar.57.4.3631352CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minar, C. Jill, and Crown, Patricia L. 2001 Learning and Craft Production: An Introduction. Journal of Anthropological Research 57:369–380.10.1086/jar.57.4.3631351CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murra, John V. 1962 Cloth and Its Function in the Inca State. American Anthropologist 64:710–728.10.1525/aa.1962.64.4.02a00020CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Neale, Lila M. 1947 A Note on Certain Mochica (Early Chimu) Textiles. American Antiquity 12:239–245.10.2307/275053CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, Ann H. 2014 Paracas Necropolis: Communities of Textile Production, Exchange Networks and Social Boundaries in the Central Andes, 150 BC to AD 250. In Textiles, Technical Practice, and Power in the Andes, edited by Arnold, Denise Y. and Dransart, Penelope Z., pp. 109–139. Archetype, London.Google Scholar
Roddick, Andrew P., and Stahl, Ann B. (editors) 2016 Knowledge in Motion: Constellations of Learning Across Time and Place. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Rowe, Ann Pollard 1980 Textiles from the Burial Platform of Las Avispas at Chan Chan. Ñawpa Pacha 18:81–148.10.1179/naw.1980.18.1.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowe, Ann Pollard 2012 Tie-Dyed Tunics. In Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes, edited by Bergh, Susan E., pp. 193–205. Thames and Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Rowe, Ann Pollard 2014 Technical Reflections of Highland-Coastal Relationships in Late Prehispanic Tunics from Chillon and Chancay. In Textiles, Technical Practice, and Power in the Andes, edited by Arnold, Denise Y. and Dransart, Penelope Z., pp. 159–192. Archetype, London.Google Scholar
Rowe, John H. 1979 Standardization in Inca Tapestry Tunics. In The Junius B. Bird Pre-Columbian Textile Conference, edited by Rowe, Anne Pollard, Benson, Elizabeth P., and Schaffer, Anne-Louise, pp. 239–264. Textile Museum and Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Shimada, Melody, and Shimada, Izumi 1985 Prehistoric Llama Breeding and Herding on the North Coast of Peru. American Antiquity 50:3–26.10.2307/280631CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Splitstoser, Jeffrey C. 2009 Weaving the Structure of the Cosmos: Cloth, Agency, and Worldview at Cerrillos, An Early Paracas Site in the Ica Valley, Peru. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Surette, Flannery K. 2015 Virú and Moche Textiles on the North Coast of Peru during the Early Intermediate Period: Material Culture, Domestic Traditions and Elite Fashions. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.Google Scholar
Szpak, Paul, Millaire, Jean-François, White, Christine D., and Longstaffe, Fred J. 2014 Small Scale Camelid Husbandry on the North Coast of Peru (Virú Valley): Insight from Stable Isotope Analysis. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 36:110–129.10.1016/j.jaa.2014.08.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, L. G., Mosley-Thompson, E., Davis, M. E., Lin, P. N., Henderson, K. A., Cole-Dai, J., Bolzan, J. F., and Liu, K. B. 1995 Late Glacial Stage and Holocene Tropical Ice Core Records from Huascarán, Peru. Science 269:46–50.10.1126/science.269.5220.46CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tiballi, Anne E. 2010 Imperial Subjectivities: The Archaeological Materials from the Cemetery of the Sacrificed Women, Pachacamac, Peru. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, Binghamton.Google Scholar
Tomczyk, Weronika, Giersz, Miłosz, Sołtysiak, Arkadiusz, Kamenov, George, and Krigbaum, John 2019 Patterns of Camelid Management in Wari Empire Reconstructed Using Multiple Stable Isotope Analysis: Evidence from Castillo de Huarmey, Northern Coast of Peru. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11:1307–1324.10.1007/s12520-017-0590-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Topic, Theresa Lange, McGreevy, Thomas H., and Topic, John R. 1987 A Comment on the Breeding and Herding of Llamas and Alpacas on the North Coast of Peru. American Antiquity 52:832–835.10.2307/281392CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torrico, Cassandra 2014 Technical Competence in Weaving as a Means of Distinction among Young Macha Women from Tumaykuri, Northern Potosí, Bolivia. In Textiles, Technical Practice, and Power in the Andes, edited by Arnold, Denise Y. and Dransart, Penelope Z., pp. 195–215. Archetype, London.Google Scholar
Wallace, Dwight T. 1979 The Process of Weaving Development on the Peruvian Coast. In The Junius B. Bird Pre-Columbian Textile Conference, edited by Rowe, Anne Pollard, Benson, Elizabeth P., and Schaffer, Anne-Louise, pp. 27–50. Textile Museum and Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Wenger, Etienne 1998 Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9780511803932CrossRefGoogle Scholar