Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

Shell trumpet

This ceramic trumpet comes from the Moche culture, which inhabited the northern coast of modern-day Peru between the years 100 and 800 CE.

It is a wind instrument, made in the shape of a marine mollusk (Strombus sp.) commonly used as a trumpet in the Andes even today. Its internal structure mimics the spirals of the original shell, expertly crafted in clay. The instrument is played by vibrating one’s lips on its mouthpiece –the tone can be varied by inserting one’s hand into the large opening.

Dimensions: 1800 mm high x 2300 mm long x 1800 mm wide (approx 70” x 90” x 70”).

Drum

This musical instrument, made of wood and leather, belongs to the Gentilar culture, which flourished in the extreme north of Chile (Arica) between 1200 and 1470 CE.

It is a drum made from a hollowed-out piece of wood with leather stretched over it and sewn together with a leather fastening running horizontally around the body of the drum. The seam is further bound by a leather strap, which also holds a carrying handle, clearly worn by use.

There is no recording of this drum, as any attempt to play such an ancient leather instrument would likely damage the instrument.

Dimensions: 175 mm high x 170 mm long x 170 mm wide (approx 7” on each side).

Llama bell

This wooden livestock bell comes from the Arica culture, which inhabited the northern coast of modern-day Chile between 1000 and 1532 CE.

It was used in caravans that were part of the intensive llama herding that the Arica people practiced. Like a bellwether, the male lead llama would have this kind of bell attached to him so that the other llamas could follow him easily.

This instrument, an idiophone, is incomplete because it lacks its clappers. Normally, such bells would have had between five and ten small sticks inside –the number used depended on the intensity of movement– that made sounds when they struck the inside of the bell. This thin wooden artifact was carefully worked so as to improve the sound it produced.

This piece shows several signs of use, particularly on the inside where the clappers struck it, and in the holes at the top, through which a cord or thong was threaded to hang it from the lead llama’s neck.

This instrument couldn’t be played to obtain a recording, as it is incomplete and in any event could be damaged by an attempt to play it.

Dimensions: 640 mm high x 1110 mm long x 345 mm wide (25” x 44” x 14”).

Ceremonial knife – rattle

This metal rattle (made of copper with small stones) is a relic of the Vicús culture, which flourished on the northern coast of modern-day Peru between the years 1 and 500 CE.

It is made from a single sheet of metal, in two sections: a semicircular sharpened blade (tumi) and a folded sheet bent into a sub-triangular form. It was made using the metalworking techniques of laminating and hammering.

This instrument is idiophonic –that is, it produces its own sound when shaken. It contains about seven small stones, roughly one centimeter (half an inch) in diameter each, that produce a loud, dry, metallic sound when striking each other and the rattle’s interior.

Moche and Vicús iconography depicts warriors with one or more of these instruments tied to their belts, hanging downwards, probably to add to the terrifying sound of their battles.

Dimensions: 363 mm high x 730 mm long x 185 mm wide (approx 14” x 29” x 7”)

Rattle

This rattle, made from seeds, cotton fibers and the wool of camelids (llamas and llama-like animals), was produced by the people of the Arica culture, who inhabited the northern coast of modern-day Chile between 1100 and 1470 CE.

The instrument is idiophonic, that is, it makes a sound when moved. It is made from a wooden stick bent into a figure-8, creating two loops. The smaller loop is the handle, while the larger one and the point where they meet are wrapped in textile fibers. Seeds hang from the larger loop also, each cut at one end. Most are large pieces of seeds, but some pieces are smaller. Both large and small seem to be parts of the same individual seeds.

Dimensions: 300 mm high x 105 mm long x 20 mm wide (approx 12” x 4” x 1”).

Rattle jar with whistle

This ceramic object combines two kinds of musical instrument: an ocarina and a rattle. It was made by the Chorotega culture, which inhabited modern-day Nicaragua between the years 600 and 900 CE.

The artifact has two parts: The lower part consists of four hollow legs, modeled with figurative faces and containing a ceramic ball inside. When the piece is moved, the balls strike the insides of the legs, producing a sound typical of idiophones (rattles).

The upper part is in the shape of a bottle, the neck of which is a human figure with a crocodile snout. The whistle is on the outside of the bottle and forms a separate compartment. It is very small and contains an air duct that leads the player’s breath to a sharp edge, where sound is produced. It has no finger holes and so can only make one note –in this case, A#.

Staff head – rattle

This rattle is made of metal (silver) and is an artifact of the Vicús culture, which inhabited the northern coast of modern-day Peru between 500 BCE and 500 CE.

It is an indirect-blow idiophone; that is, when it is moved, four metal balls strike the walls of the vessel, making sound. It was originally mounted on top of a wooden staff that was moved like a scepter.

The instrument was made using the lost wax method and has a pierced spheroid shape with zoomorphic decorations. The upper band is divided into six modules, four of which are of similar size and depict a seated quadruped in full profile. The tail ends in three triangles that hold a large headdress in the shape of a tumi (Andean ceremonial knife). The smaller two modules fit between the two pairs of quadrupeds and depict a flying bird with beak raised. The lower band consists of eight modules, of two different types: four showing the same bird figure, and four showing a schematic view of a fish or manta ray.

Dimensions: 520 mm high x 730 mm long x 730 mm wide (approx 20” x 29” x 29”).

Scepter head – bird-shaped rattle

This metal rattle comes from the Chimú culture, which inhabited the northern coast of modern-day Peru. The piece is from the time of Inca domination over the Chimú, between 1470 and 1532 CE.

It is an idiophonic instrument, one which produces sound when moved. The piece –which was used as the head of a wooden scepter– is composed of a tube, open at one end and closed off at the other with a large disk. From this disk dangle fourteen rings, each of which has a small rattle attached to it. The main tube continues beyond this disk, ending with a rectangular cutoff. On top is another disk, also with fourteen rings, on top of which is a solid metal ornament in the shape of a bird.

This piece was made in a mold using the lost wax method.

Dimensions: 1850 mm high x 640 mm long x 640 mm wide (approx 72” x 25” x 25”).