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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Textile Artifacts Textiles are by far the most abundant nonceramic artifact recovered at Cahuachi. These remains encompass special artifacts as well as miscellaneous bits and wads of unspun cotton fiber, individual fragments of single and multiple threads of various colors and plies, scraps of undyed plainweaves and two-colored (white and brown, both from native Peruvian cotton) patterned plainweaves , embroidered plainweaves, three-dimensional images, fine borders, netted or looped fragments, textile rope or cord, possible turban ties and/or belts, and other items whose function is not yet known. Feature 17 Feature 17 is the very special artifact found in Excavation 4 (see chap. 9; fig. 18.1). The object is roughly crossshaped and is formed of a cane frame filled with wool (unidentified) and wrapped around with a coarse cotton plainweave that is tied to the cane frame with string. This construction method is clearly visible on the dorsal side of the object. Somewhat similar objects are illustrated by Kroeber (1954: fig. 33). The cross is not symmetrical. Its right arm is almost semi-hemispherical, whereas its left arm is narrower and longer, ending in a slightly outflaring protuberance. The wool and plainweave construction is visible on the front side of these arms. The object is 42 centimeters long and 16 centimeters wide, measured from arm tip to arm tip. The left arm is 6.5 centimeters long, and the right arm is 4.5 centimeters long. The front side is noteworthy because of the embroi264 dered textile fragment that was sewn to the plainweave covering the frame. Nobuko Kajitani, a textile conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and consultant to the UNESCO textile conservation program at the Musea Nacional de Antropologia y Arqueologia, examined this artifact in 1985. She believes that the colored embroidery is made of alpaca wool. She observes that the textile is a remnant of a complete textile, given the fact that the left side of the textile is selvage whereas the right side is torn; it was not made especially for the cane object. She suggests that the width of the embroidered area and the fact that the designs are oriented in one direction indicate that the piece comes from a rectangular textile of the kind generally considered to be a headdress . Anne Paul (personal communication 1986), based on examination of slides in 1986, likewise believes that the textile is a border fragment from a turban. She notes that the image depicted is similar to those often embroidered on turbans. The image on the textile fragment is a standing figure in frontal position with a broadly grinning mouth (fig. 18.2). The arms are flexed and extended out to either side of the torso. Appendages, terminating in stylized feline and human figures, flow from the head. The legs point in the same direction and hang down from the torso. Paul considers this leg position peculiar, for with extended arms the legs ought to be depicted in a splayed position. She notes that the legs not only point in the same direction but also are attached to the body in a really bizarre way. Instead of coming out of the bottom line of the torso (the "normal" way of doing it in Paracas 18.1. Feature 17. A crosslike object to which a fragment from a linear style Paracas turban has been attached. Left: front view. Right: back view. embroidered images), they dangle from one side of the body. A snakelike appendage or tail, recurving up to the crook of the left elbow, was placed in the space created by the off-center leg position. The embroidery was done in orange, green, and yellow threads on a dark purplish red background. Kajitani and Paul are in agreement that the colors of this piece are not similar to those found in the textiles from the Necropolis locus at the Paracas site on the Paracas Peninsula , although the style of embroidery is the linear style found in Necropolis bundles. Furthermore, Kajitani suspects that no cochineal had been used in the textile but, rather, madder (probably relbunium), a vegetable dye obtained from a root. Tello's textiles from Paracas used cochineal. Interestingly, cochineal does not appear to have been used in Early Horizon textiles from Ocucaje, Karwa, or Chucho, though this statement may be a bit premature. Nor was cochineal used in the textiles Gayton (1961) reported from Yauca or Ocona. Paul states that the colors of the textile remind her of the colors in...

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