Chincha Plain-weave cloths Part 1

Chincha Plain-weave cloths.

by Lila M. O'Neale and E. Bacon and C. W. Gemmer and R. V. Hall and I. W. Johnson and C. M. Osborne and M. B.Ross.

FOREWORD

The study presented here was one of a series planned by Professor Lila M. O'Neale, a.s.sociate Curator of Textiles in the Museum of Anthropology. The fundamental idea was to make use of the wealth of material in the collections of the Museum of Anthropology, particularly its pre-Columbian Peruvian textiles, as source material for study and a.n.a.lysis by advanced students. Professor O'Neale's sudden death on February 2, 1948, means that, although the paper was completed and in the hands of the Board of Editors of Anthropological Records, the final proofreading has not been done by Professor O'Neale.

The Board greatly regrets that this outstanding contribution will not be followed by others produced under the direction and guidance of a highly esteemed colleague.

INTRODUCTION

This study of the Chincha plain-weave materials in the Max Uhle collection of the University of California has been part of the work of a Senior course in technical a.n.a.lysis. Six members of the cla.s.s, whose names appear as joint authors, are responsible for the data collected and for the initial organization.

The Material

The Chincha collection, excavated in 1900 by Dr. Max Uhle during the Peruvian expedition financed by Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst, is catalogued under two lot prefixes: 4- and 16-. Specimen numbers with the prefix 4- indicate that the precise provenience as to site and grave is known. The cloths in this lot have been previously a.n.a.lyzed and a preliminary report has been published.[1] The cloths in the 16- lot, as is explained in the report on the pottery,[2] did not identify perfectly with entries in the collector's field catalogue or their identification was dubious.

Six Chincha sites described in Uhle's field catalogue[3] are shown on map 1. The number of cloth specimens representing each of these sites varies from 2 to 52 (table 1). Briefly, the time periods indicated by finds forming the basis of this report are as follows.

Site A (2 specimens). "On the declivities of the valley towards the sea, 5 km. from Tambo de Mora to the north." Late Chincha period.

Site B (3 specimens). La c.u.mbe cemetery; nearly exhausted; the few graves opened were "ordinary ones." Late Chincha period.

Site C (37 specimens). In "the higher Northern part of the valley."

Late Chincha period.

Site D, and "near" site D (52 specimens). "Chamberlike tombs, which had been dug out in a mound-like older huaca." Late Chincha period.

Site E, and "near" site E (20 specimens). "The dry natural terrace ...

in front of the ruins of La Centinela." Several graves at this site held European articles. Late Chincha period, in part after the Spanish Conquest.

Site F (2 specimens). "The natural terraces with slopes directed to the sea north of La c.u.mbe (circa Las Palmas)."[4] Late Chincha period.

Table 1

Basic Table: Sites, Periods, and Number of Specimens in Study =================================================== No. 4- No. 16- Total Site Period specs. specs. specs.

---------+--------------+--------+---------+------- A Late Chincha 2 ... 2 B Late Chincha 2 1 3 C Late Chincha ... 37 37 and Inca D Late Chincha 7 41 48 "Near" D 4 ... 4 E Late Chincha 10 9 19 and Inca "Near" E 1 ... 1 F Late Chincha 2 ... 2 ---------+--------------+--------+---------+------- Totals 28 88 116 ---------------------------------------------------

Most of the fabrics described in the literature on ancient Peruvian textiles are characterized by beauty of coloring or arresting designs or unusual workmanship--sometimes by all three. These all-cotton Chincha specimens have none of the expectable features. First and last they seem to have served utilitarian purposes; for that reason, most of them are comparable to our so-called domestics. The larger ones are probably mantles: the proportions of the largest two-breadth pieces with full dimensions (4-3973d, 59.5 in. by 66 in. and 16-1250, 52 in.

by 61 in.) place them in this group; a third specimen (16-1292), also formed of two breadths (intact breadth 35 in. plus fragmentary breadth 28 in.) was probably a mantle 62 inches by 70 inches over all. The smaller specimens suggest scarves (or incomplete mantles), carrying cloths, or kerchiefs (figs. 1, 2).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1. Diagrams of eleven specimens with length-to-width proportions approximately 1:1, as indicated by diagonal. Seams in two-breadth textiles shown as broken lines.

Largest specimen, 59.5 inches by 66 inches.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2. Diagrams of seven rectangular specimens with length-to-width proportions approximately 2:1 as indicated by diagonal. Largest specimen, 62 inches by 22.5 inches.]

The fact that many of the Chincha cloths in the 16- lot had apparently been roughly torn to rectangular shapes leads us to believe that the excavator used them to wrap pottery specimens. Indeed, the majority seem to have been used even by their makers as wrappings. A number of them have long loose st.i.tches or hanging cordlike threads, which originally may have held several layers together. Many of the single breadths have traces of seaming st.i.tches on one or both selvages, indicating that the original wrapping was two or three times its preserved width.

A large proportion of the cloths in this group are badly worn and clumsily patched. Two, three, and sometimes more pieces of irregular shape applied to the base material and even on top of a first patch are not infrequent (pl. 3,d). The mended fragments do not appear to be either the original sizes or shapes. Many of them have been reduced to their present rectangular shape by tearing off tattered (?) edges.

One small group of striped textiles in the 16- lot is a noteworthy exception to the majority. Finely striped cottons similar to the one in plate 5,d must certainly have been made for other than utility cloths, probably for garments.

There are four small bags (or pads?) in the Chincha 4- lot. Three of these were formed of small whole cloths sewed together at the sides with running, double running, and whipping st.i.tches respectively. The fourth is made of a piece of an edge-stripe material and has one loomstring end and one side selvage. On this bag the torn edges have been turned in and seamed with a running st.i.tch.

Ties for one of the bags have been made by plaiting in a 4-strand flat braid the elements consisting of the two loomstrings plus an additional 12-ply cord drawn through the corner of the bag to its center point, thus giving two ends. Another of the bags has a draw string formed by a 9-ply cord drawn through the top end with a running st.i.tch.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] L. M. O'Neale and A. L. Kroeber, Textile Periods in Ancient Peru:I, UC-PAAE, 28:23-56, 1930.

[2] A. L. Kroeber and W. D. Strong, The Uhle Collections from Chincha, UC-PAAE, 21:1-54, 1924; Max Uhle (A. L. Kroeber, ed.), Explorations at Chincha, UC-PAAE, 21:55-94, 1924.

[3] Max Uhle, Explorations at Chincha, pl. 1, pp. 87-90.

[4] Ibid., pp. 68, 69.

DIMENSIONS OF THE CHINCHA CLOTHS

One hundred twelve cloths in the plain-weave group were measured.

Because some of the specimens could not be placed under tension, the forefinger was drawn along the cloth beside a steel tape to smooth out wrinkles. Measurements taken by this method approximate those on a cloth stretched between the bars of a loom.

Lengths

Complete dimensions can be taken on eighteen Chincha specimens in lots 4- and 16-. As figures 1 and 2 show, these dimensions cl.u.s.ter around two sets of proportions: the eleven cloths represented in the diagram in figure 1 are squarish; the seven in figure 2, with a length-to-width proportion of approximately two-to-three to one, are rectangular. Four of the squarish cloths are formed of two separately woven breadths of material. All the rectangular cloths are single breadths.

Measurements of these specimens with complete dimensions are given below under the two cla.s.sifications.

Squarish cloths Measurements in inches Specimen 4-3633b 15.5 by 14 16-1260 19 by 14 4-3890a 23.5 by 26 4-3883a 26.5 by 27 4-4056 27 by 26 16-1253 28.5 by 24 4-4027 29 by 28 4-4022a 40 by 35 (2 breadths) 4-3883b 43.5 by 38.5 (2 breadths) 16-1250 52 by 61 (2 breadths) 4-3973d 59.5 by 66 (2 breadths)

Rectangular cloths Specimen 4-3889c 9.5 by 5 4-4029 10.5 by 4 4-3962 11.5 by 9 4-3882f 13 by 7 4-3710m 18 by 11.5 4-3883d 53.5 by 21 4-4059a 62 by 22.5

From the twenty Chincha plain-weave cloths with intact lengths (fig.

4) it is possible to know (1) that the cloths were woven by methods standard among the ancient Peruvians; (2) that each breadth represents a separate warping operation which established its ultimate length; (3) that each breadth was made singly on the loom. The evidence for such procedures and the identifying features of the end selvages on Peruvian cloths are to be recognized in the continuous thread which forms the warp skein--in contradistinction to cut ends of warps--and in the presence of two or more heavy wefts, the first ones put across the web. The cords binding the end loops of the warp skein to the loom bars hold the first of these loomstring wefts, as they are called, to the bars. The two or more succeeding wefts, which are interlaced with the warps, establish the width of the piece and give it a certain firmness. On the ends of some cloths the strand of cord for loomstrings was long enough to carry across the web only twice. In the majority of our plain-weave cloths it was carried across three times; in over a fifth of the total number of intact ends in the 16- lot the loomstring carried across four times. The frequencies of two, three, and four loomstrings at the ends of webs in this group are approximately as 6:32:16. A number of these occurrences are on cloths in which the heavy cord is not long enough to make a complete crossing; the remainder of the breadth is completed with weft of the size used for the regular weaving.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 3. Complete widths of textiles in Chincha plain-weave group. Separately woven webs of two-breadth cloths indicated by chevrons. Narrowest width, 4 inches.]