Pedestal Bowl

The communities of highland Ancash (Peru) created a singular style, known as Recuay, between 200 and 700 CE. Recuay ceramics are recognizable by their cream-colored vessel bodies, achieved by using white clays such as kaolinite, among other techniques. This pedestal bowl was very likely part of a ritual assemblage, a container for food and drink. In this example, half of the bowl was painted with red ochre before being placed in the kiln. In a second firing, a resist-painting technique was used to add the lemniscate pattern, a curved line wrapped around two circles. This bowl is similar to another in the collection (MMA 1976.286.2), but with a slightly different pattern. This object reminds us of the importance of feasting in the establishment and maintenance of relations between people, and between communities and powerful non-human beings in the landscape.

Hugo C. Ikehara-Tsukayama, Senior Research Associate, Arts of the Ancient Americas, 2024

References and further reading

Ibarra Asencios, Bebel (ed.). Arqueología de la sierra de Ancash: Propuestas y perspectivas. Second edition. Lima: Instituto Cultural Rvna, 2004.

Lau, George F. “Feasting and Ancestor Veneration at Chinchawas, North Highlands of Ancash, Peru.” Latin American Antiquity Vol. 13, No. 3 (2002): 279-304.

Lau, George F. Ancient Alterity in the Andes: A Recognition of Others. London: Routledge, 2013.

Lau, George F. An Archaeology of Ancash: Stone, Ruins, and Communities in Andean Peru. London: Routledge, 2016.

Ponte, Victor. “Transformación social y política en el Callejón de Huaylas, siglos III-X d.C.” Boletín de Arqueología PUCP No. 4 (2001): 219-51.