Overview

In 1996 more than two hundred mummies and skeletal remains accompanied by a rich array of burial offerings were discovered at a cliff side burial site overlooking Laguna de los Cóndores in the cloud forest of Chachapoyas. In spite of the humid climate in this remote corner of Peru’s northeastern Andes, many of the organic remains, including textiles, were extraordinarily well preserved. The textiles are today stored or exhibited at the Museo Leymebamba. The find includes the best preserved and largest cache of Chachapoya textiles known to date, providing researchers with a unique opportunity to learn about little-known Chachapoya weaving techniques, iconography, style, politics, and trade connections, mostly from the Chachapoya-Inca period, ca. 1470–1532. This richly illustrated volume studies forty-five selected textiles, both burial offerings and mummy bundle wrappings, with chapters on Chachapoya iconography, culture,and quipus (talking knots), as well as a description of the project launched to rescue the finds and the construction of the Museo Leymebamba.

Full Product Details

9788763504997

Table of Contents

Reviews

The catalog portion of the book includes excellent photographs and a concise description of 42 items from the collection. No previous book-length treatment of these artifacts has been published. As a general source of information about pre-Coilumbian Andean textiles, this book is valuable... - J.J. Borowicz, Humanities, May 2008

""The catalog portion of the book includes excellent photographs and a concise description of 42 items from the collection. No previous book-length treatment of these artifacts has been published. As a general source of information about pre-Coilumbian Andean textiles, this book is valuable..."" - J.J. Borowicz, Humanities, May 2008

Author Information

Lena Bjerregaard holds an MA in textile conservation from the School of Conservation in Copenhagen and has worked since 2000 as a conservator in the Ethnographic Museum in Berlin.

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