Splendor Adornment: Examining Feather Textiles Uncovered from Huanchaco, North Coast of Peru, a Chimú Mass Child Sacrifice Site

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Research conducted at the University of Trujillo during July 2024 uniquely furthers our understanding of Chimú and the societal role of feathered textiles. The importance of woven textiles in the Andean is well documented. Subsequently, closely examining the materiality, compositions, techniques, and construction can tell us much about the Chimú. By extension, textiles adorned with feathers of endemic and non-endemic birds highlight the prestige that Chimú society (approx. 950-1540 C.E.) placed on feathers, feathered objects, and, by extension, the person the feathers covered. In this paper, I build upon previous research on Chimú textiles. This paper discusses the thorough visual analysis conducted in July 2024 of a small collection of feathered textiles and headdresses uncovered from child sacrificial victims buried at Pampa La Cruz, as well as comparative data collected from other museums. The findings have helped to reconstruct the process Chimú feather workers utilized while assembling the feathered headdresses and garments. As a result, I propose that several individuals work to attach feathers onto each textile, suggesting a workshop or apprentice-style practice, and feathered textiles and headdresses can be used to help understand the regional identity of the children buried at Pampa La Cruz.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53828