Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

Real and mythical animals

Real and mythical animals

Real and mythical animals

Real and mythical animals

Real and mythical animals

“Reading” the Images

There are two ways of “reading” the images represented on the Paracas textiles. One way is to attempt to identify different representations of the same figure based on the human and/or animal traits they display, according to the attire they wear and/or the objects they carry. Using this approach, one can identify the Mythical Anthropomorphic Being, the Big-Eyed Being and the Shaman in Flight, as well as other figures associated with the sea or with agriculture. The other way is to observe the richly dressed figures found on ceramic vessels of the Early Nasca tradition, which are contemporary to the Paracas Necrópolis textiles, to discover how the grave goods found with the funerary bundles were used.

As individuals were buried with the same objects associated with mythical figures, the Paracas people may have believed that those deceased persons were transformed into mythical ancestors, with the objects serving as symbols and emblems of their new status.

Modeled orca

Painted orca

Feline-serpent

Condor