Tracing stylistic influences in Chachapoya art and imagery

Summary

The art style of the people who occupied the territory called "Chachapoyas" by sixteenth century chroniclers and modern scholars reflects the region’s location straddling the eastern slope of Peru’s northern Andes and Amazonia. At various times in Andean prehistory the Chachapoya interacted with cultures to the north, east and west of their territory, while at other times they seem to have flourished in relative isolation. Given Chachapoyas’ location and apparent sporadic contacts, especially with cultures to the west of the Marañón river, it is no surprise that its art style reveals an eclectic and anachronistic mixture of stylistic features and influences drawn from many cultures and periods. A trove of well-preserved burial offerings from Laguna de los Cóndores, including textiles and gourds, as well as artifacts from a handful of other burial sites, are helping researchers clarify the origins and pinpointing the geographical range of recurring Chachapoya imagery.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• What was Chachapoyas?: Towards a cultural geography of the northeastern Peruvian Andes   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage