Headcloth fragment
Maker: Chancay culture
Medium:Cotton gauze
Geography: Peru
Date: 1000-1470
Period: Chancay Culture, Late Intermediate Period, Pre-Columbian Andean
Object number: 972.231.5
DescriptionThis is a fragment of one of the two panels used to make a headcloth in the Chancay culture of the Central Coast of Peru. The fragment was made using a weaving technique known as gauze that combined dark blue, light blue and yellow cotton warps in alternating alignment. Since female dolls from Chancay burials are found wearing these sheer headcloths, it is likely that these textiles were worn by women. The ROM’s Peruvian textile collection includes some of the most spectacular pre-Columbian fabrics from the cultures of the Pacific Coast. Textile manufacture in this region began by at least 4000 BC. Cloth-making was a central economic activity and textiles held enormous social, political, religious and aesthetic value. Alpaca fibre, cotton, grasses, feathers and other materials were used to create garments that colourfully encoded distinctions of social status, occupation, and ethnicity.
