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

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Fragment from a Tunic
Pan Flute–Playing Sacrificer
Wari culture, probably South Coast
AD 600-900
Cotton, camelid wool; interlocking tapestry weave
10½" x 9½"
In the ancient Andes, the haunting sound of the pan flute was
the sound of ritual death, the afterlife and the ancestral realm.
The reed instrument was also associated with warfare and the
rainy season, contributing sonic dimension to sacrificial activities
focused on fertilizing the earth with blood or unleashing the
water controlled by cosmic forces.
Musicians are pictured playing the same sorts of instruments
(pipes, trumpets, drums, rattles) that have been found in
ceremonial and burial sites. Shamanic characters also play
panpipes in Nasca imagery, as do skeletal personages represented
in Moche pottery vessels.
Unlike those spectral beings, this unique Wari character (who
is portrayed in only a few known tapestry tunics) is fully
garbed and furnished with the standard supernatural emblems,
including a headdress and (extremely contracted) staff.
As if to emphasize the realistic nature of the role, however,
his features and demeanor are definitely those of a human
being. The design of his tunic emulates Nasca-Wari styles of
discontinuous warp-and-weft textiles ("patchwork") found on
the south coast. An identical garment is worn by the panpipe
player portrayed in a closely related tunic in the Textile Museum
collection. Possibly the two tunics were produced by the same
workshop, or allude to a style of dress specifically associated
with the musician’s role.
This figure has been interpreted as a version of the Wari
Sacrificer. 1 In fact, such activities are intimated by the
disembodied head juxtaposed with the headdress of another
figure from the pattern sequence below (the only detail to
survive in this fragment). A stepped element decorated with
a condor head next to his feet also places the musician on a
ceremonial dais or within sacred space. (The motif may derive
from the platform depicted on the Sun Portal.)
But the character’s most unusual attribute is a wavy glyph
emerging from his mouth, which, in combination with the
panpipe, surely indicates a vibrational sound, such as song or
speech.
Given the iconographic and aesthetic consistency of the imperial
Wari style, which is centered on a core group of mythical icons,
this image is outstanding as well as unique.
1 Susan E. Bergh, ed., Wari. Lords of the Ancient Andes (2012): 168-167, figs. 157, 158.
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