In 1532 the Spanish conquistadors arrived in South America to find the Incas ruling a great empire. The diffusion of this important encounter meant that the most remembered Peruvian culture to date has been that of the Incas. However, civilization first emerged thousands of years before in ancient Peru.

In the centuries following the Spanish conquest, chroniclers wrote and illustrated reports or chronicles regarding all that occurred in the Americas. From these lands they frequently sent information, both written and illustrated, regarding the history of the region, paying particular attention to the government of the Incas.

These chronicles reached Spain, where they were translated into other European languages in order to satisfy the great curiosity which existed regarding everything related to the New World. Today we can only understand the enormity of the impact of the discovery of the New World and the fascination it provoked if we compare the event to how we might react if faced with the eventual discovery of intelligent life on other planets.

For almost 400 years, from the 16th century until the beginning of the 20th century, when conversation turned to Peru mention was made only of the Incas, and their culture became world famous.

The first archaeological work during the first years of the 20th century showed that the Incas had only governed Peru during the last 150 years of a period of cultural development which stretched back more than 10,000 years.

Of all the historic achievements recorded in Peru, almost without a doubt the most important is the fact that it is one of the few places on Earth where civilization emerged independently approximately 5000 years ago.

We invite you to learn more about the sophisticated nature of the cultures which flourished in Peru several centuries before the rise of the Incas.

Ancient Peruvians honored their gods with offerings and ceremonies and paid homage to their dead. The works of art that we see in museums were not usually objects intended for daily use. Although some of their apparently utilitarian forms may suggest such usages, their real function was to serve as spiritual rather than earthly objects.

As westernized people of the 21st century we no longer organize our societies in relation to life after death. It might be said that we pay homage to life itself, to our existence in the here and now. This way of thinking can make it difficult for us to understand ancient cultures like those which existed in Peru. These societies practiced the cult of the dead, and this enabled their people to make contact with other worlds: the underworld, inhabited by the dead, and the world above, which was where the gods dwelled.

In order to gain favor with the gods, people were obliged to perform ceremonies, leave offerings and make sacrifices. The population was also obliged to build tombs and perform elaborate funerary rites so that after their death their leaders would be transformed into ancestors. It was believed that the ancestors of the community had the power to ensure that society and the universe as a whole would continue to exist. In the chiefdoms, states and empires of ancient Peru, the death of leaders (chieftains, lords, priests, priestesses or emperors) was a crucial event.

Ceramics have always been seen by researchers as a rich source of information regarding diverse aspects of the societies that produced them. Pre-Columbian cultures have been defined to a great degree by the stylistic and iconographic characteristics of their ceramics. Because ceramics vary over time and space they also serve to establish local and regional cultural chronologies.

Ancient Peruvians honored their gods with offerings and ceremonies and paid homage to their dead. The works of art that we see in museums were not usually objects intended for daily use. Although some of their apparently utilitarian forms may suggest such usages, their real function was to serve as spiritual rather than earthly objects.

The value attributed to textiles by pre-Columbian societies can be compared to the importance given to gold and silver. Textiles served as much more than clothing; they were also a medium for the spreading of religious ideas and for transmitting messages to the next world when they were employed to wrap the mortal remains of the dead. They also served as exquisite gifts for the rulers of these societies, as well as to denote social status.

In today’s world, many international clothing brands include on their labels information regarding the primary material from which the items were made: “Peruvian cotton”. In Peru, we are proud of the quality of this product and the fact that this quality is recognized throughout the world.

In the Andean region, cotton was domesticated some 4,500 years ago and it quickly became one of the most important materials used in the processes of spinning and weaving and the production of fishing nets, bags, funerary mantles and fine clothing.

In addition to cotton, alpaca and vicuña wool was also woven. The wool from these animals is among the finest in the world and it protects the wearer against the cold as well as being highly impermeable. Today the clothing made from these materials is also greatly appreciated in the rest of the world.
In ancient Peru the women usually spun and wove. They were experts in the techniques of spinning, dying, weaving and embroidering.

Textiles are capable of containing a great deal of information, not only in their designs, but also in their actual structure.

The textiles of southern Peru are the most well-known, for they were preserved by the dry desert environment of the southern coast. The textiles of northern Peru were also of the highest quality, but they were unable to survive the humidity caused by the torrential rains associated with the recurrent El Niño phenomenon which affects that region.

After the Spanish conquest, the process known as “the extirpation of idolatries” sought to eliminate the indigenous forms of worship and beliefs which survived the conquest. These forms were fused or blended with the new ideas which had come from Europe, and under a new guise they continued to transmit their indigenous messages. This process is known as syncretism.

During the colonial period, Andean artists became engaged in reinterpreting the culture of Spain. They assimilated European techniques, adapting them to indigenous resources and practices. The artistic themes introduced by Europeans were blended with ancestral themes. Under a Christian guise, the myths and rites of the Andes were perpetuated.

To this day it is possible to find expressions of syncretism in Peruvian culture, in the form of popular festivities and religious celebrations.

Art was the visual medium in the exercising of ideological domination and for the transmitting of the principal religious messages. The engineers and builders of pyramids moved on to the building of churches. The skilled pottery sculptors began to carve wood for Catholic images. Painters adopted the customs of European schools and worked on canvases that expressed Christian themes.

Painting was the most important medium for catechization, and in these works we can see how syncretic beliefs were expressed. The principal Andean gods were replaced by the Holy Trinity, and the lesser gods by the saints. The Virgin, or Mother Earth [Pachamama] for indigenous people, adopted the form of the Apus, the mountain gods of the people of the Andes, which were huacas, or sacred sites. The Archangel Harquebusiers were easily incorporated into religious imagery because they resembled the Bird Warriors who were ancient Andean deities.

In addition to its religious and artistic aspects, there existed a political element to syncretism. Inca royalty was recognized by the Spanish crown in exchange for its loyalty. The Capac Cuna, or official list of Inca rulers, was reconstructed and incorporated as part of the record of government in the territory conquered by the Spanish.

The practice of human sacrifice was common to many ancient cultures. Death, the shedding of blood and physical mutilation ritually transformed the victim. The life being offered to the gods gave the transformed individual sacred status (sacrum facere).

The ritual combat ceremony and subsequent human sacrifice practiced by the Moche was not unique to this culture. In Mesoamerica we find the “Flower Wars” practiced by the Aztecs of Mexico, which ended with the ritual sacrifice of the defeated warriors. Among the Mayans, the ritual of the “ball game” appears to have culminated with the sacrifice of some of the players.

Human sacrifices were also common among the Celts, Scandinavians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans and oriental peoples.

Sacrifice is the central act in almost all religions. Human sacrifice entailed the offering of a victim in order to placate the wrath of gods, spirits or cosmic forces. In today’s world symbolic forms of sacrifice can still be seen in certain religious practices.

Among the Moche, the object of ritual combat between warriors seems to have been the selection of candidates for sacrifice from among the most productive members of society. The society offered its gods one of its most valued assets in exchange for the well-being of the community. Sacrifice constituted an act of giving and receiving.

The most important ceremonies in the societies of ancient Peru were associated with fertility, sacrifice and the cult of the dead. In each of these three cases, the offering and exchange of fluids was central, and therefore containers for liquids were of particular importance.

Ancient Peruvians gave form to the different materials that nature offered them, creating items from clay, wood and metals. With these materials they made bowls, vessels and cups to hold ceremonial liquids such as water, fermented beverages and sacrificial blood.

Communities gave thanks to their gods and ancestors for the water which fell as rain and flowed down in the form of rivers to irrigate their crops, thereby ensuring agricultural production and the continued life of the people. On important occasions they would offer their gods the most important fluid they possessed – the blood that flowed through their veins or that of the animals they gave in sacrifice.

During ceremonies men and women toasted with chicha, the main drink of the Andean world, which was made from fermented corn. With their senses heightened and in a festive spirit, the people participated in a shared experience which took them away from their everyday routines.

In their ceremonies, the rulers and priests, dressed in bright costumes that shone with precious metals, established their claim to being the earthly representatives of the gods. They handled the vessels made from gold and silver and thereby reinforced their social and political position. These objects were not only symbolically important by virtue of their role in ceremonial rites like the pouring of liquid upon the earth or libations to the gods; as materials of sacred and supernatural significance gold and silver also acted as the media for the communication of religious messages.

From their manufacture to their final destination as funerary offerings buried in tombs, gold and silver objects were strongly associated with the elite. This ruling class monopolized the use of these metals, controlling metallurgical production and the transmission of mythological messages via objects made from gold and silver.

In today’s world wars are motivated by political, territorial and economic interests. Nobody goes to war in gold and silver outfits, jewelry and crowns. The function of combat gear is to protect combatants and make them less vulnerable.

However, in their art pre-Columbian cultures represented warriors prepared for and participating in battle wearing luxurious clothing and adornments. Some of these items are not particularly functional in the context of an activity which requires movement, speed and efficiency when attacking. These adornments were used as religious and status symbols during combat which served a ceremonial function.

Human warriors fought as the gods of mythology did. Some of these gods fought on land or sea; they fought to defeat the night and restore daylight, and they fought to connect the world of the heavens with the earthly world through rainfall. This combat culminated in blood sacrifices in honor of one of the major gods. The greatest sacrifice of all was offered in exchange for the future wellbeing of society as a whole.

In a territory like the Andes, the cycles of nature are not always regular. The forces of nature might be expressed in extraordinary events such as earthquakes. The rains might not come or, on the other hand, they might last for too long due to the effects of the El Niño phenomenon. For this reason, ritual combats and sacrifices designed to restore lost order were performed on a regular basis.

In today’s world music forms part of our festivities, social and family gatherings and religious celebrations. Music stimulates our perception and places us in the right state of mind for spiritual experience. It enables us to display our emotions, feelings, desires and personal and communal ways of thinking. In all cultures it has been the medium through which humanity connects with the immaterial world.

Dance is another form of nonverbal communication which predates culture, for many animals also use dance. Since time immemorial, human beings have created choreographies with the movement of their bodies. Dances tell stories and demonstrate joy, sadness, desires or gratitude.

In Andean societies, music and dance have always been present. Ceremonies associated with the worship of water, processions and pilgrimages to sacred places, preparations for ritual combat, burials and sacrifices, were all accompanied by music and dance.

The cultures of ancient Peru created percussion and wind instruments with the many materials offered by nature and in their art they represented ceremonies accompanied by music. Drums, rattles, whistles, flutes, panpipes and trumpets were played to produce rhythms and melodies that were shared during rituals. They also used resonant objects such as whistling pottery vessels which produced sounds through the movement of wind or water.

Ceremonial dress was composed of personal adornments, most of which produced sound from contact between its metal elements, or from bells or rattles hung from items of clothing. In this way such clothing and adornments lent those who wore them the aspect of supernatural beings and linked them to the world of the gods.

When the leaders of pre-Columbian societies died they aspired to a semi-divine status in order to draw closer to the gods. Funerary rituals were essential to the successful outcome of this transformation.

In the modern western world the dominant forces are those of technological progress and the improvement of quality of life. However, this “cult of life” has made it more difficult for us to connect with the immaterial aspects of existence which are also part of human experience.

In the Andean world view, death did not mark the end of life, but rather the beginning of a new life in the world of the dead. Birth and death were periods of transition which had to be accompanied by rites and ceremonies. The proper performance of a ritual would ensure the desired result; that children would be born and the dead arrive in the next world.

The death of the community’s leaders had particular significance. In life, they fulfilled special roles associated with their position as intermediaries between the earthly world and the world inhabited by the gods. In those societies which developed a state or imperial political structure, leaders were considered the direct descendants, or “children” of the gods.

When its leaders died, society as a whole had to ensure that they would cross successfully from this world to the world of the dead, and that their journey to their final destination, closer to the gods, would be a good one. Through this journey the deceased leaders would be transformed into society’s ancestors, and they would care for and guide society from their elevated position.

To that end, the “cult of the ancestors” required that ancient Peruvians carefully prepare the burials of their leaders. The tomb, which was the space where the ancestor would dwell, had to be specially designed. The body of the ancestor had to be prepared and clothed with adornments and emblems that denoted their social position, ceremonial functions and membership of a divine lineage. All of these activities were loaded with great meaning and importance.

The clothing and adornments used by the rulers of ancient Peru were symbols which denoted who they were during life and who they would become after death.

Throughout history, clothing has not only protected us from the natural elements, it has also enabled us to demonstrate who we are. Our clothing and adornments indicate our gender and social position, as well as our origins and what we do. This has been the case from the first moment when the members of a society felt the need to identify themselves as equals, as well as to differentiate themselves from others. Even today, members of a religion or the armed forces demonstrate that they belong to these institutions and their respective hierarchies through external indicators such as clothing.

In all ancient societies, the elite employed ways of defining themselves. In ancient Peru leaders would dress and adorn themselves with articles exclusive to their social rank. They would preside over the principal ceremonies wearing garments and ornaments which not only denoted the function they performed, but which also displayed the religious codes of their society and the emblems of power and privileged status. Their social position and identity were defined by their dress, crowns and many items of jewelry.

When they died they took with them into the afterlife objects which expressed their way of seeing the world. They were interred with the ritual attire which had identified their rank during life, and which had marked them out as the descendants of the gods. Their identity transcended their earthly existence and accompanied them into the next world. After death, these rulers would be transformed into ancestors who would share a place in the celestial world with the gods.

Smiths, weavers, pottery makers and other specialist artisans dedicated their abilities and skills, as well as a great deal of their time and energy, to dressing and decorating their lords, both in life and after death. To a great extent, they were responsible for the success of the journey made by their lords into the next world, for they were entrusted with the manufacture of objects of highly symbolic, devotional and mystical importance.