Identity and Public Spectacle—Fancy Textiles of the Early Intermediate Period,

North Coast of Peru

The Weaver and the Wearer: private work and public display Looking to the Highlands for Ideas, Images, Materials and Goods
Flannery Surette and Jean-François Millaire
Department of Anthropology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2 Archaeology in the Andes is defined
by cultural islands, a notion reinforced
Corresponding Author: F. Surette (fsurette@uwo.ca) by the division of the time periods into
‘horizons’, moments where a single
culture presumably impacted vast
swathes of the region (Chavín,
Wari/Tiwanaku, and Inka). These are
then separated by ‘intermediate
periods’ where regional cultures
flourished with little contact/influence
a b ML016299 c with/on their neighbors (Rowe 1962).
However, archaeological evidence
Figure 1: a) A modern weaver from Morrope; b) fine Virú negative-painted vessel in the form of a lord/warrior wearing a fancy headdress and
carrying a square shield and club; c) and a depiction of a weaver in a mural at the Moche Huaca de La Luna, Moche. from the coast suggests that the b
intermediate periods were rather Figure 9—Highland Textiles: a) Recuay Textile recovered from
times of trade instead of the Gallinazo Group (Bennett 1939) in association with a seated,
A modern weaver from the small town of Morrope (Peru) (Figure 1a) sets out to make a cloth, bound in her endeavor by a flexed burial (a typically highland style in contrast to coastal
‘balkanization’. Coastal polities
series of choices and restrictions. In this case, she is setting up a backstrap loom with commercial acrylic/alpaca yarn in extended burial patterns); b) highland-style warp-faced striped
order to teach an archaeologist (F. Surette) how to weave; daily, she and her family weave warp-faced cloth from
formed exchange relationships with a camelid textile, Huaca Santa Clara.
peoples in the upper valley and
commercial and native grown cotton yarn for sale to tourists at the Museo Tumbas Reales del Señor de Sipán. Her
choices, in the case of the archaeologist, where limited by the yarn that she was brought (the amount and type of fiber and highlands, trading in ideologies, iconography, raw materials, and finished products.
the two colors), a restricted timeframe, and the skills and wishes of the student; having been taught by her mother and The textiles of the Virú Valley reflect these influences, particularly as they manifested themselves in elite contexts, by
grandmother, she follows their prescriptions for technique and pattern. What she crafts from her regular cloth production weavers and patrons who would have had access to trade material and influences from other ecological and cultural regions.
(often simple bags and belts) is designed for tourists seeking small ‘authentic’ examples of a local weaving tradition which Rulers of the coastal Virú polity appear to look northeast/east to the upper valley (the chaupiyungas), the highlands and then
has been partially revived by the replanting of native cotton types, many of which were exterminated so that their colored the Amazon rather than north or south to their neighbors who live in a similar ecological context. This is supported by both
lint would not contaminate more valuable white varieties (Schuster 1995). the presence of materials from these regions including ceramics, textiles and basketry. From the highlands, one could obtain
camelid fibers while cotton grows best in the upper valley; there is at least one example of a Recuay painted textile executed
Her ancient counterpart (similar to the depiction in Figure 1c) working for an elite lord (Figure 1b) in the valley of Virú (c. on a cotton plain weave cloth (Porter 1992).
150 BC-AD 450) would have similar restrictions but she would not be responsible for tourist trinkets, but for items, when
combined with the work of other craftspeople who work in wood, metal, shell and feathers, would have been meant for The Virú people’s clear preoccupation with the highlands is also supported by a series of fortified castillos (Castillo de
public display. The quality of the material as well as the use of imported stuff would befit the rank of the wearer but from Tomaval, Napo, Sarraque and San Juan) (Figure 6) located along the eastern margins of the valley. They
afar, the spectacle of the costume would be emphasized. guarded/delineated the only entrance into the valley and oversaw the valley’s major irrigation canal intakes.
Archaeological evidence of upper valley and highland trade to Virú includes completed items such as a tapestry pillow
This poster, using several examples of Virú textiles, will explore first how textiles formed an important part of public display, decorated with dragon-like moon animals, catfish and humanoids from a Gallinazo Group burial context (Bennett 1939),
how textiles and iconography coalesce in example of a coastal tradition that transcends techniques and media to create a Figure 5: Watercolor of the main mound, plaza and ramp at the Huaca Gallinazo, Gallinazo Group. A representation of an elite lord stands on a platform overlooking the main which may have been interred with a person from the highlands based on the seated, flexed burial position. A distinctive
unified message, and how textiles offer clues to patterns of exchange between the Virú polity and their highland neighbors plaza which encompassed 82,000 m3. The Gallinazo Group itself covered 600 ha with 40 ha of mounds and housed between 14,400-28,800 people—of a total of 30 category of warp-faced wool bags excavated from Huaca Santa Clara were also imported and isotopic analysis, coupled with
to the east. mounds, six of these had evidence for civic architecture with the largest example illustrated here (Millaire 2010: 2-3).
stylistic and technical attributes, has confirmed that the wool from these and other objects are not of a coastal origin
In the final section, we discuss the cross-pollination of iconographic images in the form of the highland moon animal and the
The Virú Valley: It is a small valley located on the north coast
A Virú Lord on Public coastal catfish.
of Peru containing two intersecting drainages, the Virú and the
Display Huacapongo, which provided the only water for extensive
The catfish and the moon
irrigation canals that fed the cultivated fields. Prior to and as
animal
Excavated at Huaca Santa Clara, part of the Virú Valley Settlement Project during the 1940s, the
a tapestry panel (Figure 2a-b) valley was extensively mapped and documented by the
The catfish not only shifted
depicts a seated man, wearing archaeologists and other scholars (Bennett 1939, 1950; Ford
between coastal artistic media
earspools and a headdress and and Willey 1949; Strong 1947; Strong and Evans 1950; Willey
but also traveled to the
flanked by llama-head staffs. The 1953). It was chosen for its small size and rich archaeological
highlands where it was rendered
rest of the textile shows either heritage but until the last two decades, little research has been
on ceramics (Figure 10a) and as
shields or banners being held up conducted in the area (see Bourget 2010; Fogel 1993; Millaire
background filler in Recuay
by other personages in fancy 2009, 2010a, 2010b).
a b headdresses and belts. Fine Virú
tapestry (Figure 9a). It was also
Figure 2: a) Virú slit tapestry, wool and cotton (Huaca Santa Clara, Virú Valley); b) line drawing of the ceramics echo these markers in
The textiles discussed in this poster were excavated from the
ML010883 a b c d incorporated into distinctively
same textile. presumed capital, the Gallinazo Group, which is located along a highland styles of cloth such as
emphasizing fancy clothing, Figure 10: a) a bicephalic catfish/ray on a Recuay ceramic; b and c) warp-faced highland textile with a
natural coastal path between valleys and a satellite catfish design; and d) coastal-style wool, slit tapestry catfish band on a blue/white plaid cotton textile.
the warp-faced supplemental
headdresses, shields and staff/clubs (Figure 3a; 4a-c). Unlike their neighbors, the Moche, Virú potters generally focused on administrative and storage center, Huaca Santa Clara, in the warp design in Figures 10b-c)
individual figures rather than the depiction of entire scenes so this textile is an unique image of a civic-ceremonial event middle valley. Both sites represent parts of a state that virtually identical in form to a tapestry example from the coast.
with a central personage surrounded by a retinue. In his work in the Jequetepeque Valley, Swenson (2011) has highlighted developed during the 2nd century BC.
the power of public ritual performances to unify a group while also enforcing political and social inequalities. This could be Figure 6: Map of the Virú Valley showing select Early Intermediate Period sites. The moon animal appeared fully formed in coastal iconography,
accomplished through spatial separation whereby as in Figures 4b/4c, the elite personages are seated atop a only later associated with lunar elements in Moche art (Bruhns
podium like the one uncovered on top of the main mound at Huaca Gallinazo in 2011 One North Coast Image, Many Mediums and Methods 1977). Identifiable by its spots, toothy mouth, long tongue, head
(illustrated in Figure 5). This textile may have been a fragment of an elite’s costume or crest, long body and curved claws, it appears on a variety of
part of a banner which are thought to have been used as tools of proselytization in the objects both in the highlands (see Figure 9a; Figure 11b) and the
Figure 7a-c: Virú coast (Figure 11a and c). It has been identified as a feline (Tello),
Andes (Cordy-Collins 1982).
textiles depicting the a ML016769
a dragon or crocodile-like figure (Lavallee) or animaginary creature.
Costume, too, serves to create an otherworldliness. Artifacts recovered from the Virú coastal catfish motif b
The shift of the moon animal from highland to coastal textiles is
ML029695
Valley include wood staffs once inlayed with stone or shell and encrusted with cotton using three different
decorative techniques- Figure 11: a) moon
particularly interesting as highland weavers make tapestry that
cloth (Figure 3b), and tiny gilt copper plates (Figure 3c) which would be sewn across
tunics to swing loosely; both reflect the light. Negative-painted vessels (Figure 4a-c) a a) polychrome wool animal, Gallinazo
used erratic, interlocking wefts which allow for curvilinear shapes
ceramic; kaolin
slit tapestry; b) paint (see Figure 9a) such as the arched back of the moon animal. In
depict lords wearing large earspools and distinctive headdresses featuring step motifs on wool plain weave;
ceramic with painted
and crescent shaped finials—these would have been made of copper alloy, gold or contrast, coastal slit tapestry best produces rigidly geometric
moon animal and owl
c) all-over
spout, highland; and
shapes (Figure 7a;10d). It is fascinating then how the weaver of the
silver. In addition to metal, tapestries were woven in bright colors while even white supplemental wefts in c) wool slit tapestry,
cotton would stand out. While none have been recovered, bird feathers were likely blue and white cotton moon animal tapestry (Figure 11c) adapted her tapestry technique
patchwork of moon
used as part of both textiles and ornaments. a b c to reflect, as best as she was able, the curves inherent in the
animals in various
animal’s features so that it would remain recognizable. It appears
colors of dyed wool,
The end goal for the lord atop the platform would have been to convey, in shorthand, c Virú.
that it was important at least in this circumstance to remain true to
The catfish or ray is one of the most common textile motifs (Figure 7a-c; Figure 10b-d) from the Virú Valley. It is a typical motif for other coastal
the accoutrements of his position and power though the use of large, colorful and/or peoples as well including the Moche who included it on ceramics, metal ornaments, and murals (Figure 8b) as well as in textiles. It is thought that the animal’s depiction perhaps to ensure that a patron was
light-reflecting elements often created from precious, imported materials. Virú weavers for the Moche, it may represent a species of freshwater catfish (Trichomycterus sp.) with whiskers and long sinuous body which prefers brackish satisfied or more esoterically that meaning was not lost with the translation from a painted to a woven medium.
incorporated a variety of local and foreign images with local and foreign materials,
emphasizing the elites’ breadth and depth of social, political and economic reach. b c waters, is nocturnal and is associated with the rainy season (Gálvez and Mora 2009). Though archaeologists can identify the sharing of imagery, it is harder to determine if they retained the same meanings or
The choice of medium and method impacts how an image is depicted and it appears that on the coast, the geometric patterns imposed by the cross developed new ones within their new contexts or perhaps with the change in material. What it does indicate is that weavers
a b c Figure 3 (above): a) the ceramic head of
of warps and wefts at right angles influenced the execution of the design in other forms of art, textile and otherwise. Though painted (Figure 7b), and other artisans often remained loyal to their source material by employing similar artistic conventions as the source.
a Virú lord with step/crescent headdress
and large earspools; b) wooden staff Figure 8: a) this catfish continues to maintain the same geometrics as those woven directly into Bennett WC (1939) Archaeology of the North Coast of Peru: An Account of Exploration and Excavation in Viru and Lambayeque Valleys (American Museum of Natural History, New York).
head with steps, textile fragments ; c) gilt coastal ceramic the cloth while the Moche mural resembles the Virú textile (Figure 7a) in depicting
Bennett WC (1950) The Gallinazo Group: Viru Valley, Peru (Yale University Press, New Haven).
Bourget, Steve (2010b) New Perspectives on the Moche Political Organization, eds Quilter J, Castillo LJ (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC), pp 201-222.
copper plate, once sewn to a textile with catfish diagonal stripes of catfish; the difference is that the techniques that appear in Cordy-Collins, A (1982) Psychoactive Painted Peruvian Plants The Shamanism Textile (J. Ethnobiol.2: 144-153).
Ford JA, Willey GR (1949) Surface Survey of the Virú Valley, Peru (American Museum of Natural History, New York).
Figure 4 (left): a) Virú warrior wearing a design; b) Figure 7a and c require prethought as they are part of the structure of the cloth Fogel HP (1993) Settlements in Time: A Study of Social and Political Development During the Gallinazo Occupation of the North Coast of Perú. Ph.D. dissertation (Yale University, New Haven, CT).
Gálvez Mora, CA, Runcio, MA (2009) El life (Trichomycterus sp,) y su importancia en la iconografía mochica (Archaeobios 3: 55-87).
knotted headdress and striped tunic, mural painted itself. The catfish is consistently depicted across materials, suggesting that the Millaire, JF (2010a) Primary State Formation in the Virú Valley, North Coast of Peru (PNAS 107: 6186-6191).
Millaire J-F (2010b) New Perspectives on the Moche Political Organization, eds Quilter J, Castillo LJ (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC), pp 223-251.
carrying a club and a shield; b) man in a with a series of
image was worth maintaining. It was also employed in public buildings and on Millaire J-F, Morlion M, eds (2009) Gallinazo: An Early Cultural Tradition on the Peruvian North Coast (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, Los Angeles).

headcloth seated on a throne (?); c) slanted Museo Larco (2010) http://www.museolarco.org/catalogo/index.php.

bicephalic items of personal adornment, suggesting public and private meanings. It links the Porter, N (1992) A Recuay Painted Textile (Textile Museum Journal 31: 71-81).
Rowe, AP (1977) Warp-patterned Weaves of the Andes. (The Textile Museum, Washington DC).
seated lord with step/crescent
headdress and earspools holding a club catfish, Huaca Virú to a tradition of motifs which include as well north coast motifs including the Rowe, J (1962) Stages and periods in archaeological interpretation (Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 18: 40-54).
Schuster, AMH (1995) Colorful Cotton! (Archaeology 48: 40-45).

ML040403 ML016263 ML016263 ML018888 and shield (Museo Larco 2010). a ML016769 b Cao Viejo. step and the feline (Millaire and Morlion 2009b: 160). Strong, William Duncan. Finding the Tomb of a Warrior-God. National Geographic 91: 453-482
Strong WD, Evans C (1952) Cultural Stratigraphy in the Virú Valley, Northern Peru: The Formative and Florescent Epochs (Columbia University Press, New York). All images unless otherwise noted are copyright Surette 2011
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Willey GR (1953) Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Virú Valley, Perú (Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC). marked with their catalog number.