Textile Fragment with Central Figure

Date

400 - 100 BCE

Creator

This is a distinguished example of an ancient Paracas textile. Textiles made by the Paracas people, who lived along the arid coast of the Paracas Peninsula in Peru, date back to as early as 400 BCE. The textiles that remain were most likely used for funerary purposes and were interred in elite burials, serving as the cloth wrapped around the deceased to form bundles. Within these bundles were important possessions and ritual paraphernalia of the deceased, as well as food and other goods to ensure sustenance in the afterlife. Here, you see a central figure flanked by two felines. What might be trophy heads appear throughout the textile.