textiles!
I’ve been plugging away at my prospectus and finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. :) So that’s why the update’s late.
As you may know, I like knitting. I haven’t been doing much knitting myself, but I thought I’d share some neat info and pictures about textiles in Peru.
Ancient cultures in Peru did not do any real knitting. Earliest textile-like things were knotted nets for fishing. Also, netted bags were filled with rocks to use as construction fill for mounds. First real textiles, from the preceramic period, were mainly done via twining. Twining was abandoned completely, however, once weaving was developed (done on a backstrap loom). Weaving patterns have many variations, and are way too complex for me. *grin* Reed mats and baskets are also often woven or plaited together by hand. For the time period I work in, gauzes were also very popular. Textiles were made out of cotton or camelid wool. Textiles were painted or dyed, using natural materials and clays rich in sulfates as mordants. Here’s some neat textiles I’ve seen walking around at looted sites:
This is a little plant fiber-material bag, inside which are some clumps of human hair (a child’s?).
This is a textile with yellow background and black stripes. It looks like the black may have been painted on after weaving.
This lovely red-fuchsia color comes from a dye made with cochineal, an insect that lives on cactus.
This blue is likely made from indigo leaves, which is a very hard dye to use. There is also a very nice purple that is made here from crushed shells.
Very nifty loosely woven brown and cream. I love the pattern.
And here’s a looter’s shelter, covered in tons of old textiles from the cemetery. Breaks my heart.
On a side note (and to balance out all the pretty stuff I showed you), here’s what we had for dinner the other night. Yes indeed, that is a head. It’s guinea pig (called cuy). It was 1st domesticated here in the Andes. No, I didn’t eat it.
TTFN
As you may know, I like knitting. I haven’t been doing much knitting myself, but I thought I’d share some neat info and pictures about textiles in Peru.
Ancient cultures in Peru did not do any real knitting. Earliest textile-like things were knotted nets for fishing. Also, netted bags were filled with rocks to use as construction fill for mounds. First real textiles, from the preceramic period, were mainly done via twining. Twining was abandoned completely, however, once weaving was developed (done on a backstrap loom). Weaving patterns have many variations, and are way too complex for me. *grin* Reed mats and baskets are also often woven or plaited together by hand. For the time period I work in, gauzes were also very popular. Textiles were made out of cotton or camelid wool. Textiles were painted or dyed, using natural materials and clays rich in sulfates as mordants. Here’s some neat textiles I’ve seen walking around at looted sites:
This is a little plant fiber-material bag, inside which are some clumps of human hair (a child’s?).
This is a textile with yellow background and black stripes. It looks like the black may have been painted on after weaving.
This lovely red-fuchsia color comes from a dye made with cochineal, an insect that lives on cactus.
This blue is likely made from indigo leaves, which is a very hard dye to use. There is also a very nice purple that is made here from crushed shells.
Very nifty loosely woven brown and cream. I love the pattern.
And here’s a looter’s shelter, covered in tons of old textiles from the cemetery. Breaks my heart.
On a side note (and to balance out all the pretty stuff I showed you), here’s what we had for dinner the other night. Yes indeed, that is a head. It’s guinea pig (called cuy). It was 1st domesticated here in the Andes. No, I didn’t eat it.
TTFN
posted by archaesmd at 4:35 PM
1 Comments:
Great pics. How do you know all that stuff are old textiles? That yellow one with black stripes doesn't look ancient to me. did you dig to find that stuff or was is just lying around? It looks kind of like a mess out there.
Post a Comment
<< Home