essay
Ecology and society in embroidered images from the Paracas Necropolis
paracas art & architecture : object and context in south coastal peru • Iowa City • Published In 1991 • Pages: 240-314
By: Peters, Ann H. (Ann Hudson).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The author examined the designs on the Paracas textiles in an attempt to find meanings in their design, and how the clues to the weavers’ relationships to the social and natural realms might reflect a common worldview. The focus is on the animal and plant elements in the imagery. Late subtradition Paracas Necrópolis (an extension of the northern Topará subtradition) iconography suggests a system of social power based on control of esoteric knowledge. The main difference between early Nasca and Necrópolis iconography is in the choice of subject matter with Nasca imagery depicting useful plants and animals and humans engaged in natural resource extraction such as fishing or agriculture. Discussion centers on Topará block color textiles from Necropolis burial bundles. Most images of flora and fauna are a melding of species, with few economically important species shown. In fact, the species depicted appear to represent competitors with humans in the hunt and/or collaborators in the control of pests around settlements, with the implication that both such creatures and the senior men buried with the most, and most elaborate, textiles, operated as mediators between culture and nature, simultaneously capable of moving between realms of land, sea and air.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Fauna
- Flora
- Woven and other interworked fabrics
- Normal garb
- Visual arts
- Burial practices and funerals
- Ethnobotany
- Ethnozoology
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Nazca
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2015
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- South America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central Andes
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Sarah Berry; 2013
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 2300-1750 BP (300 BC-AD 250)
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Cerro Colorado (Paracas Necrópolis), Paracas Peninsula, Paracas district, Pisco, Ica, Peru
- NotesAdditional notes
- Ann H. Peters
- For bibliographical references see document 25:Paul (1991, References cited)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 91016740
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Nazca culture