The first millennium CE was a period of expansive artistic creativity and strong stylistic regionalism in Peru. The well-known art traditions of the Moche and Nasca thrived in the coastal valleys, while several communities in the northern highlands shared a distinctive tradition that is known today as the Recuay. This tradition emerged following the disintegration of the Cupisnique and Chavín cultures, which thrived between 1200 and 500 BCE and whose art featured depictions of ferocious beings and predatory animals .
Around 500 BCE, Chavín de Huántar—one of the most sacred sites in the Central Andes over the previous centuries—was abandoned. It was reoccupied decades later by a community of farmers that transformed its vacant ceremonial spaces into a village. Stones from a temple were reclaimed for houses, and stone sculptures—once considered powerful, perhaps dangerous beings—became innocuous construction elements. These farmers evolved a new type of pottery known as Huarás, which was simpler in form and decoration than previous styles—Chavín and Cupisnique vessels, with their dark, lustrous surfaces adorned with complicated engravings ; , were replaced by roughly made red wares. Around 200 CE a new style of pottery emerged—one that we recognize as Recuay today—and spread rapidly throughout the mountainous part of the Ancash region, a territory located between the temperate valleys of the Pacific coast and the tropical forests of Amazonia.
Recuay pottery represented a significant innovation in Andean ceramics. The finest wares were a creamy white that resulted from the use of iron-poor clays known today as kaolinite. This type of clay is less plastic and requires higher firing temperatures than others. As a result, finely made works, such as a double-chambered bottle with a mouse , were the product of both skilled artisans and improved firing technologies, including the use of specialized kilns. Not all Recuay ceramics were made of kaolinite, however. Many were made from more common iron-rich clays (the type that produces red wares) and white slip (a very liquid clay) that was applied before firing, creating white surfaces with a diverse range of tones .
Over the white surfaces, a palette of red ochres filled in details such as faces or body decoration, or defined areas of a different color. Firing at high temperatures not only transformed the clay into ceramic but also fixed the red pigment on the surface. After firing, additional designs in black were sometimes added using a resist-decoration technique. This additional procedure involved applying a slip on the ceramic surface to protect the areas that were to remain undarkened and delineate the shape of the designs. Then the surfaces to be darkened may have been covered by an organic substance that burned when the object was exposed to a low-temperature fire. After the ceramic cooled down, the dried slip was removed. Because the slip protected parts of the surface from being saturated with carbonized material, once removed, it exposed the original colors. The contrast between light and dark surfaces on resist-decorated ceramics recalls relief carvings in stone found in Recuay communities and echoes the effect of raking light on such sculptures. The process of crafting these vessels involved multiple steps, and it is unknown whether each step involved the same or different artisans.
Whether crafted from stone, ceramic, or metal, Recuay art features three main themes: ancestor veneration, feasting, and body adornments. Boulder sculptures in the shape of humans with a large head, crossed arms, and minimal detailing are known in considerable numbers ; . Such works may have been thought of as stone ancestors and were placed in prominent locations within settlements as structural elements of ceremonial buildings and tombs or as freestanding sculptures.
Feasting—sharing foods and fermented beverages with other members of the community, allies, and nonhuman beings, including ancestors—was an important component of Recuay ritual life. A remarkable ceramic vessel gives us a sense of these events. On the deck of the vessel, we see a group of figures before a decorated wall that suggests a ceremonial plaza. One figure, larger than the rest and richly attired, likely represents a curaca, a community leader in charge of organizing the festivities; he is surrounded by five female figures holding cups or bowls and two male figures presenting a llama. Elaborate serving vessels ; were undoubtedly made for such occasions. A large cache of such objects was uncovered at the site of a Recuay settlement at Pashash, suggesting that after certain feasts serving vessels were ritually discarded.
Recuay artists also excelled in the creation of luxury goods such as finely woven cloth. Organic materials do not survive well over the centuries in the Andean highlands, so we have regrettably few examples. A sense of their richness is conveyed through their depiction in ceramics and other works, including the elaborate headdress worn by the curaca in the feast scene mentioned above. A number of textiles that are recognizably Recuay in style have been recovered in the drier conditions along the coast, however. One fragment features a repeated pattern of faces with four appendices—a motif found in other Recuay media—and marine birds, likely pelicans, which suggests the textile’s coastal origins and the reach of Recuay culture beyond the highlands.
Metalwork resists the passage of time more successfully than textiles, and we have examples of some gold and many copper and bronze ornaments. Metal pins ; are associated with women and were designed to secure garments. Mirrors have also been recovered, though it is unclear if they were used as personal items or as part of religious practice.
The imagery in these objects is thought to be rooted in concepts of the sacred. As noted above, a face with appendages is a particularly prominent motif that could be a frontal view of another popular figure: the rampant feline. The creature shown in profile, rearing up on hind legs—also known as the “Recuay dragon” or “crested animal”—is common in Recuay art, and it is also found in some coastal traditions ; . The animal in these works is often identified as a feline, but it could have been any one of several different animals depicted in a highly stylized fashion. The motif appears on the bottle with a mouse and the feast scene noted above. In both cases, the creature was rendered using the resist-decoration technique. In the metal pins discussed above ; , two figures in profile combine to create an image that resembles a smiling face. This design logic of creating more complex images based on mirrored motifs was inherited by the Recuay from their Cupisnique and Chavín predecessors .
In the early centuries of the first millennium, aspects of the Recuay tradition could be detected in many valleys of Peru’s North Coast, suggesting a fairly strong relationship between this highland polity and their neighbors on the coast. Pottery and textiles with Recuay imagery appeared alongside local objects in the cemeteries of coastal communities. Within a few centuries, however, “foreigners”—that is, non-Moche figures—make brief appearances as rival combatants in Moche battle scenes. Some scholars view these non-Moche figures as Recuay warriors, signaling that by this time, coastal-highland relations were characterized by competition and even conflict. By the seventh century, Wari, an expansionist state based in the Ayacucho region to the south, had advanced into the northern highlands and incorporated Recuay communities into its realm. From this, new styles would emerge as artists adopted new imagery and new palettes, drawing on traditions from the Wari heartland as well as contemporaneous coastal communities.