I took the Pre-Columbian Art History at CSUF while getting my BFA. The instructor mentioned fabrics in Peru. There are scads of fairly well preserved examples from the Andes. They are sometimes found in hanging burial bundles which were made by some of the tribes and hung in the mountains. More fabric was found in caves. In both cases, it was used as part of the mummification process. The stuff in caves was usually better protected, as the caves were so cold that you essentially had an anaerobic environment freeze drying the body, and preventing rot of both the body and the fabric.
He was quick to point out that fabric making is extremely time consuming. The Peruvians of those eras (upwards of 3000 years ago) used very simple foot looms (I think that's what you'd call them; two sticks anchored at the feet and neck while sitting). With the amount of time consumed in the fabric's creation, the wealth of the dead person could be measured by the amounts of fabric the body was wrapped in.
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regna
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Date: 2008-12-24 05:32 am (UTC)He was quick to point out that fabric making is extremely time consuming. The Peruvians of those eras (upwards of 3000 years ago) used very simple foot looms (I think that's what you'd call them; two sticks anchored at the feet and neck while sitting). With the amount of time consumed in the fabric's creation, the wealth of the dead person could be measured by the amounts of fabric the body was wrapped in.