Chorrera artists developed a sophisticated technology that allowed them to create elaborate vessels and expressive sculptural works.
South America to c. 1500
Thousands of brightly painted and beautifully detailed sculptures were produced by the Jama-Coaque culture of modern-day Ecuador.
Jama-Coaque ceramics
Caral's plan and some of its components, including pyramidal structures and residence of the elite, show clear evidence of ceremonial functions, signifying a powerful religious ideology.
Caral
The planning of this huge city, the largest in pre-Columbian America, reflects a strict political and social strategy
Chan Chan
The innovative techniques and aesthetic qualities of Nasca polychrome ceramics make them unique in the Andean region.
Nasca ceramics, an introduction
The discovery of this Moche woman's luxurious tomb made scholars question the Moche culture's relationship between gender and power
Funerary bundle of the Señora de Cao
Learn more about how the Wari people made incredibly complex, detailed textiles like this hat
Four-cornered hat
Why Peruvian fashion favored septum jewelry with spiders
Nose ornament with spiders
The Ovalle map is one the earliest maps of Chile that circulated around Europe, and includes people, plants, and animals to create a vivid sense of the lands controlled by the Spanish Crown.
Alonso de Ovalle, Tabula geographica regni Chile
A flying figure and a cat animate this bowl from the ancient culture of Paracas, Peru.
Paracas Flying Figure Bowl
The Muisca would honor a new leader by covering his body in gold dust and then submerging him, his raft, and other offerings into the sacred lake.
Muisca Raft
A jar with a feline face and bird spout can tell us a lot about the ancient Paracan culture of Peru.
Paracas Feline Face Bottle
The main city center of Tiwanaku (centered in the Lake Titicaca region of present-day southern Peru and western Bolivia) boasted a population of 25,000–40,000.
Tiwanaku, an introduction
Get to know the richest burial site in the Western hemisphere.
The Moche Royal Tombs of Sipán
In Paracan culture, mummies were buried with lavish textiles and, offerings of food and jewelry to accompany the deceased into the afterlife.
Paracas Textiles: An Introduction
The Nasca were interested in issues of design and abstraction centuries before the rise of abstract art in the twentieth century.
Nasca Art: Sacred Linearity and Bold Designs
This mantle suggests that Paracas society may have been the first in the Andes to engage in avian-inspired ritual performance.
Paracas Supernatural Bird Mantle
The major works of Paracas artists are a pinnacle of Andean textile art and acknowledged as among the most accomplished fiber arts ever created.
Paracas, an introduction
The Semi-Subterranean Court marks the rise of Tiwanaku’s importance as a regional center.
Semi-subterranean Court at the site of Tiwanaku
The ritual this was made for was enacted in fields the Inka owned—in the Chancay lands they had conquered.
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