The Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum's “Paracas Textile”

The Brooklyn Museum's exhibition entitled “Living Legacies: The Arts of the Americas” features a Peruvian textile composed of the characteristically Peruvian camelid and cotton fibers. The Paracas culture historically made their home on the southern coast of Peru. “The Paracas Textile,” as the exhibition's prized artifact is known, features many images involving agriculture, as well as illustrations of life and growth cycles. The Brooklyn Museum's exhibit features many textiles from the pre-Columbian Andean region.

The Paracas Culture

The name “Paracas” translates from Quechuan to “sand falling like rain” due to the frequent sandstorms that characterize the region. The Paracas peninsula, located on Peru's southern coast between the Pisco and Ica rivers, was home to a culture that was historically both highly ritualistic and wealthy. Much is known about the Paracan culture due to the well-preserved artifacts and grave sites excavated from the peninsula. Archaeologists have ascertained information about the Paracas culture largely from these elaborate grave sites.

Mummified bodies of members of the Paracas society have been discovered to be buried in a sitting position, with the mummies' knees tucked

Pre-Incan Peruvian Textile

under their chins. The bodies were then wrapped in multiple layers of cloth, the quality of which was determined by the relative wealth of the individual before their death.

The Paracas culture is noted for its artistic and technological developments including advances in the kiln-firing of ceramics. The Paracas culture is also remembered, along with many Peruvian societies, for its intricate weaving techniques in textile objects. The Nazca society arose out of the ashes of the Paracas culture, creating a legacy which did even more to create intriguing pre-Columbian art, most notably the “Nazca Lines.” Both the Paracas and Nazca societies, however, are largely overshadowed by the Incan influence.