Shamans, Supernaturals & Animal Spirits: Mythic Figures From the Ancient Andes

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Fragment from a Tunic
Jaguar Sacrificer with Captive
Wari culture
AD 600-900
Cotton, camelid wool; interlocking tapestry weave
14" x 10"
This exquisite weaving records a sensational scene of death
and domination: a Sacrificer with conspicuous jaguar
markings squelches a human captive under his foot. Based on the
discovery of severed heads in multiple Wari ceremonial contexts,
this figure represents more than a supernatural character.
The personification must surely allude to, or mythologize, a
particular ritualist with gruesome obligations in Wari society.
It has been determined, moreover, that the skulls of adult men
and children entombed in several such Wari burials belonged
to outsiders—probable evidence of the militancy of this first
Andean empire.
The figuration is rendered with greater naturalism and pictorial
expressiveness than most Wari tunic compositions, which
tend toward a formalized, angular abstraction. Fluid lines and
sinuous elements, such as the multiheaded crown and wing,
are accentuated with delicate white outlines. The coloration
(especially a rare turquoise hue) and the way the subtly varied
torso motifs appear to be “daubed" on the face, arms and legs
are stylistically closer to painting.
The theme is uncommon in the textile repertoire, but relates
to iconography depicted on pottery from the Wari sites of
Conchopata, in the Ayacucho Valley, and Pacheco, in the
coastal Nazca region. The troves record the introduction and
assimilation of Tiwanaku religious iconography by the Wari
people. Visual myths painted on those ritual urns and vessels
incorporate a supernatural Sacrificer into the Cosmic Deity’s
entourage. This reimagined character is installed at the Staff
Deity’s side, in the flanking position usually accorded the staffbearing
attendants. 1 A sacrificial victim (or its head) is bound
upside-down to his staff—a gory message that is conveyed with
particular vividness here, thanks to the tension imparted by the
arched foot.
The anthropomorphic character sports a fanged mouth and
jaguar spots, and is loaded with the customary mythic signifiers.
But the profile face silhouetted underneath the huge jaguar
mask implies a prior human incarnation. When the image
is rotated, moreover, the shape and motifs of the Sacrificer’s
lower torso and limbs re-form into the image of a leaping
or pouncing carnivore with a whiskered, devouring mouth,
dragging its human prey away (detail at left). The layered
figures (jaguar-shaman, person, animal) infer an abbreviated
mythic narrative, recounted through imagery alone.
1 Anita Cook, “The Coming of the Staff Deity,” in Wari. Lords of the Ancient Andes,
ed. Susan E. Bergh (2012): 105-109.
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