Ancient Peruvian Ceramics of the North Coast March 11, 1997 The first pottery
pieces found in Peru were made somewhere between 1500 and 1000 b.p. The pieces
were found in the central Andean region where a religious cult lived. This cult
was called Chavín, after the best known ceremonial center, Chavín de Huántar.
The religious center was the home to massive temples that were highly
embellished with low relief sculptures of gods, animals, and symbols. The
pottery found in the area where vessels that were well made and highly decorated
with a similar motif as the temples. But the evolution of Peruvian pottery
becomes somewhat confusing and complex after this first civilization of potters.
There is a division of people into the North Coast and the South Coast.
The split created two styles of pottery, although similar, they never quite
merge. I am only going to talk about the north coast traditions. On the North
coast there are five cultures that evolve into the dominant Mochica style, which
was one of the most vigorous and prosperous cultures of Ancient Peru. The next
earliest North Coast style, other than the Chavín, started with the Cupisnique
people in the Chicama valley. Their ceramics “closely resembled those of
highland Chavín. They were well made and polished, though somewhat thick walled
and heavy. The type of firing used produced a dark semireduced ware that varied
from brownish gray to carbon black in color.
Decoration consisted of bold, curvilinear human, feline, and birds of pray
heads, eye patterns, pelt markings, and other brief symbols of geometric
devices.” In the valley to the south of the Cupisnique were the Salinar people
who sometime during the fifth century b.p. moved into the north coast of Peru
and spread its influence throughout the Cupisnique area. Salinar pottery,
“though deceptively primitive in ornamentation, was technologically superior to
that of the Cupisnique.
Vessels were made of well-prepared clays that were fully oxidized in firing,
making them an even orange color. Cream and red slips were used to accentuate
sculptural forms and create flat geometric patterns, but not to draw figurative
motifs. The technical advances of the controlled oxidation firing and slip
decoration soon had their effect on contemporary Cupisnique ceramics.”
Personally, I enjoyed the bottle forms they used with their double strap handles
that lead from the shoulder of the forms to the one central spout. (see figures
1 and 2). This style of vessel seems to continue throughout the centuries.
Three other cultures in north coast valleys contributed their pottery style
to the over all Cusisnique style that was evolving into the Mochica style. These
people were the Gallinazo, Recuay, and Vicús. The Gallinazo constructed double
chamber vessels with whistle spouts and a type of decoration called negative
decoration where they painted their simple designs on after the pieces were
fired. The Recuay also had double chamber vessels but these had one functioning
spout and one sculpted, usually an animal or figure. They also used negative
decoration but theirs were much more elaborate designs than the Gallinazo
vessels. The Vicús lived in the highlands on the Ecuadorian border. They made
very sculptural vessels with a stirrup handle and central spout.
Although a hand full of Vicús artifacts have been found, not much is known
about these people, but one can see a visible connection between all of these
different cultures and the Mochica style that evolved out of them. The Mochica
civilization flourished for nearly 1000 years and as time passed slight changes
in the style could be seen and are chronologically separated into Mochica I-V.
The first two are formative phases with lots of experimentation. The third
concentrated on a distinctive art style, which continued through the forth and
gradually declined in the fifth. They expressed many aspects of their culture
and daily life in their ceramics.
Things like warriors, runners (people who run bags of beans were important to
the ceremonial life), portraits, religion, gods, and animals were shown on
vessels. Mochica I was a strong continuation of the late Cupisnique sculptural
style. The forms are compact with little suggestion of action, and details are
often rendered in incised lines. Faces are generalized, but individual
personages are differentiated by costume and accessories, and by distinctive
physical traits.
