Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

All objects created by men and women in the past provide valuable information about their lives, but to interpret them we need to know many things. For example, we need to understand that the most “artistic” and symbolic objects, such as those exhibited here in the Museum, cannot be interpreted only literally, as they also tend to express abstract concepts through the forms of daily life depicted. The Tafi mask, for example, was to be used in both life and death, while for the Mapuche ancestors the white “club,” which seems inspired in some way by the utilitarian axe, represented the leader’s power.