Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

Central Andes

• Environment and Geography

• Economy and Technology

• Art

• Social Organization

• Beliefs and Funerary Practices

• Settlement Pattern

• History

• Environment and Geography

  The Vicús culture arose in what is now the Peruvian region of Piura, mainly in the pre-Andean highlands, although they also had links to coastal and mountain groups. It is a desert zone, but a few rivers and lakes supply the water that made human settlement and agriculture possible, along with large areas of arable land. The area also features plentiful grassland for livestock and woodland for hunting.

• Economy and Technology

  The Vicús were an agricultural society, and developed complex irrigation systems with rainwater collectors and water canals running alongside their fields. They grew a variety of squash, maize, and some fruit, as the decorations on their ceramics show. In addition to agriculture, they practiced livestock herding, as well as hunting and gathering of birds and other wildlife, both inland and on the coast.

• Art

  The Vicús were skilled metalworkers, fashioning many personal adornments such as earpieces, masks, nosepieces, necklace beads, metal leaf, crowns, and headdresses with spangles and feathers that made sounds as the wearer moved, as well as rattles. Many of these artifacts were decorated with anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, geometric, or hybrid motifs. The most notable feature of Vicús ceramics is their use of modeled decorations, which represented different aspects of their way of life. Many Vicús motifs depict local wildlife such as deer, rodents, felines, monkeys, ducks, parrots, owls, iguanas, and snakes. Some images blend two or more kinds of animal, suggesting mythical beasts. Many other ceramic vessels depict humans in different poses or engaged in different activities, including warriors, weavers, and people with unusual garments that have been interpreted as priests. The Vicús are also known for their erotic ceramics, which may reflect a concern with fertility.

• Social Organization

  Vicús society had a complex organization, with different social classes wielding different levels and forms of political, social, and economic power. Judging by their frequent depiction in artwork, warriors played a central role in this society. The existence of such complex artwork indicates that the culture had full time craftspeople to produce these items. It is also known that a large population of peasants and fishermen constituted the base of Vicús society.

• Beliefs and Funerary Practices

  Music played a key role in Vicús ritual life and was expressed in different areas of their culture, particularly in funeral rites. Grave goods often feature a preponderance of musical instruments including ceramic drums, flutes, and whistling bottles. In ceramic decoration, musicians playing antaras (pan pipes) are one of the most common motifs, often appearing in contexts that suggest funeral rites. Vicús graves are tubular or often boat shaped pits with a chamber at the bottom. Bodies were deposited there, often cremated, along with an array of grave goods that varied in richness with the deceased’s social rank.

• Settlement Pattern

  The Vicús people lived mainly in the highlands of what is now the Province of Piura, in Pery. Settlements were located on small hills overlooking the valley and consisted of about 100 rectangular dwellings, often fairly spread out. The main building material was mud adobe, although stone was used for the foundation. Ceramic models of homes show that the buildings had simple walls, doors, and open windows, with an inclined or peaked roof held up by wooden beams. Other models show buildings with no walls, only roofs, and some show more complex buildings with several rooms and turrets.

• History

  The origins of the Vicús probably lie in cultures such as the Chorrera, with which they shared some characteristics of their ceramic tradition (techniques, forms, and decoration). Around the year 200 BCE the Vicús began to show influences from nearby contemporary groups such as the Virú and the Moche. It has been suggested that the process was prompted by relations that grew up between the elite classes of these cultures, but conflict appears to have followed, bringing about the collapse of Vicús society in the region.

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