Cornell's Peruvian Weaver - Burial Practices
In pre-Columbian Peru, the dead were buried in mummy bundles or fardos. The body was held in a fetal position by ropes, and then surrounded by unspun cotton and fabric to form a stuffed bundle. After wrapping with multiple layers of fabric, the bundle was wrapped again with ropes. A false head was added to the bundle. Facial features made of jewels and precious metals were added to the false heads, beneath the outer layer of fabrc.
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The image to the left shows our Peruvian Weaver. She is bound by ropes in a fetal position. The multicolored rope around her legs and arms was probably original with her burial - there are rope burns on her skin around her shoulders and neck below the location of the rope, which probably were created during the burial process. There is also a much newer and coarser rope around her, part of which can be seen between her arm and her leg. This rope may have been used to remove her from her grave. Note the plainweave textile around her feet. This textile has also left an imprint on the skin of her knees, suggesting that she was entirely wrapped in this or similar fabric. Within the material at her feet is unspun cotton, which was used for radiocarbon dating. The brown color of the textiles is caused by the body's decay juices, |
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The image above shows an intact mummy bundle as illustrated by Reis and Stubel (1887), and the image below shows a textile donated to Cornell with our Peruvian weaver. Note the striing similarity between the striped fabric in the illustration and the one in the Cornell Anthropology Collections
