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| Background | Ethnological Materials |
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIALS
I.
Pre-Columbian Ceramics
Ceremonial, sumptuary, and funerary ceramics representing the following
principal cultures:
A. Formative Cultures (2000 B.C. - A.D. 400):
Decoration: Ceramics are monochrome in appearance from the use
of red, tan, or pale orange slip against a fire-clouded surface; some
forms are black and finely polished. Some show use of polychrome slip
paints in red, orange, black, and yellow. The surface exterior is polished
or burnished. There is some use of applique and incision.
Forms: Plates (ch'illami), open bowls, vases, double-cylinder
vases with bridge handles, beakers with vertical handles, pitchers, incense
burners, portrait jars, handled funerary jars, boot-shaped jars, tripod-base
jars, canoe-shaped bowls, double-spout bottles, effigy jars in the shape
of humans, animals and birds, and figurines.
Size: Varies according to form; miniatures average 2 cm. in height
while over-sized ch'illamis can average 70 cm. in width/rim diameter.
Identifying features: Formative Period ceramics are plain in appearance
but their shapes are distinct. Some are miniature or over-sized (bowls,
or ch'illami); asymmetrical or lop-sided (boot-shaped jars); and
unconventional (beakers with vertical handles, canoe-shaped vessels, "genie
lamp" shape).
Styles: Formative Period style ceramics are distributed throughout
Bolivia. These include: Chiripa, Fluke, Kaluyo/Qaluyu, Wankarani, Salar
de Uyuni, Urus, Chipayas, Tupuraya, Mojocoya, Pocona, Mizque, Aiquile,
Beni, Pando, Santa Cruz regions, and Mojeñas styles. Other terms
used include: Quillacollo, Cliza, Llampara, Inquisivi, Navillera, Tapacarí,
Capinota, Parotani, Chullpa Pampa, Sacaba, Tiraque, Chullpa Pata, Santa
Lucia, Arani, Sierra Mokho, and Sauces.
B. Wankarani
(1600 B.C. - A.D. 100):
Decoration: Typically monochrome, slipped vessels in red or black
and well-polished. Black stripes against a red surface are also common.
Incision, punctate, and applique are used for surface decoration on effigy
vessels.
Forms: Plates (ch'illami), open bowls, vases, beakers with
vertical handles, pitchers, incense burners, portrait jars, double-spout
bottles, funerary urns, ladles, conical vases with circular bases, effigy
jars in the shape of humans, animals and birds, and figurines.
Size: Varies according to form.
Identifying features: Plain forms and monochrome surface decoration that
is well-polished. Most rim edges show a slight, rounded scallop that often
gives the appearance of a misshapen vessel.
Styles: Wankarani ceramics are limited in distribution to northeast
of Lake Titicaca and north of Lake Poopo. The term Wankarani is sometimes
used broadly to refer to all Formative Period ceramics.
C. Chiripa (1500
B.C. - A.D. 200):
Decoration: Generally red or black slipped surfaces, with cream,
yellow, or black painted geometric designs. Effigy vessels and fineware
jars are often painted and incised. Yellow-painted, incised, and modeled
flat-based jars are distinct.
Forms: Bowls, vases, pitchers, jars, effigy jars, and figurines.
Flat-based restricted bowls with small, animal-shaped lug handles are
common.
Size: Varies according to form.
Identifying features: Yellow- or cream-painted on red, incised, and modeled
flat-based jars and bowls are distinct. The walls of the vessels are thick
(5 cm. to 8 cm.) and the rims are thickened. The painted decoration is
geometric, rendered in wide strokes.
Style: Linked to the Wankarani and Tiwanaku I styles of the Bolivian
highlands.
D. Tiwanaku (A.D.
600 - 1200):
Decoration: Well-fired (hard), polychrome pottery in black on red
or combined black, red, yellow, orange, gray, brown, and white. Design
motifs include human and divine representations, pumas, jaguars, birds,
and geometric elements. On many beakers, the design is complex. Plastic
decoration includes modeling, incision, and applique.
Forms: Bowls, plates, urns, vases, lebrillos, flat-bottomed
beakers, incense burners (sahumerios), lamps (mechero),
effigy jars, portrait vessels, bottles, flat-bottomed bottles, challadores,
and some tripod forms. The rim edges of some beakers are scalloped.
Size: Varies according to form; storage jars are known to be up
to one meter in height.
Identifying features: Tiwanaku finewares are typically polychrome
and often exhibit complex images of cats, llamas, or personages bearing
a staff in each outstretched arm. Beakers and plates often bear an open-mouthed
feline or llama adornment along the rim edge. Some decorated jars (lebrillos)
are short-bodied with disproportionately large, outflaring rims.
Styles: Tiwanaku I-V, Qalasasaya, Qeya, Yampara, Mollo, Omereque,
Uruquilla, Quillacasa, Yura, Tupuraya, Ciaco, Mojocoya, Lakatambo, Colla,
and Presto-Puno. Linked to the Wari style of Ayacucho, Peru, and the earlier
Chiripa style of Bolivia.
E. Aymara Kingdoms
(A.D. 1200 - 1450):
Decoration: Monochrome and polychrome painted vessels utilizing
red, grey, orange, white, black, and reddish-brown for intricate geometric
designs.
Forms: Bowl, vase (lebrillo), pitcher, jar, figurine, cup,
beaker (kero), portrait vessel, plate, oil lamp (mechero),
incense burner (sahumerio), and challador.
Size: Varies according to form.
Identifying features: After the demise of the Tiwanaku empire,
local ceramic traditions re-emerged. Design elements such as color and
placement on the vessel are retained from Tiwanaku styles, but religious
personages and deities are replaced by abstract, geometric designs.
Styles: Mollo, Pacajes, Uruquilla, Yuna, Chaqui, Lupaqa, Karanga,
Charcas, Killaqa, Karanka, Kara Kara, Ciaco, Chuyes, Tomatas, Yampará,
and Mizque Regional. Also referred to as "Decadent Tiwanaku."
F. Inca (A.D. 1450 - 1533):
Decoration: Monochrome and polychrome painted vessels utilizing
red, grey, orange, white, black, and reddish-brown for intricate geometric
designs arranged in bands.
Forms: Cook pot, bowl, vase (lebrillo), pitcher, jar (aríbalo),
figurine, cup, kero (beaker), portrait vessel, plate, oil lamp
(mechero), incense burner (sahumerio), funerary urn, bottle
(angara), challador, storage vessel.
Size: Varies according to form; funerary urns and storage vessels
can average one meter in height.
Identifying features: The most recognizable form of these ceramics
is the flat-based beaker or kero. These average about 10 cm. in
height and are painted with complex geometric and naturalistic designs
in polychrome colors, often adorned at or near the rim by a modeled puma,
llama, or jaguar head. Keros are often decorated in the style called
Tocapu, an Inca design consisting of horizontally and vertically arranged
squares with abstract and geometric motifs in each square.
Styles: Inca, Yampará, Lakatambo, Colla, Yura, and Pacajes.
G. Tropical Lowland
Cultures (1400 B.C. - A.D. 1533):
Decoration: Often plain slipped in colors of red, tan, cream, orange,
black, and yellow with bands of geometric designs.
Forms: Bowls, vases, pitchers, jars, funerary urn, plate, oil lamp, and
challador.
Size: Varies according to form; some funerary urns are over one
meter in height.
Identifying features: Soft pastes containing organic inclusions.
Styles: Casarabe, Mamoré, San Juán, Palmar, Vanegas, and
Chané.
H. Ceramic Musical
Instruments (Formative Cultures - Inca, including Tropical Lowland Cultures)
Decoration/Form: Ceramic musical instruments include whistles,
flutes, rattles, and panpipes. Often plain slipped in colors of red, tan,
cream, orange, black, and yellow or painted with intricate polychrome
designs.
Size: Panpipes range between 20 cm. and 120 cm.; whistles and rattles
are typically hand size; flutes range from 20 cm. to 120 cm.
Styles and distribution: Whistle/flute (ocarina or silbato);
Rattle (sonajera); Flute/panpipe (zampoña). Distributed
throughout all parts of Bolivia.