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Crafts and Makers: the Andes

A ten‑minute journey through Andean metalwork, textiles, pottery and the quipu, revealing how artisans recorded and expressed power.

Chapters

0:07 Metal Mastery
1:16 Weaving the Andes
1:42 Pottery and Symbolism
2:33 Recording Knowledge

On-screen text

0:07 Metal Mastery
0:14 Metal Mastery
0:31 Tiwanaku bronze axe, lost‑wax casting Historical record · Tiwanaku bronze axe, Museo Arqueológico de La Paz
0:49 Inca gold sun disk, ceremonial use Historical record · Gold Sun Disk, Museo Oro del Perú, Cusco
1:07 Wari bronze warrior figurine Historical record · Wari bronze figurine, Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Peru
1:16 Weaving the Andes
1:33 Natural dyes in Paracas textiles The Institute's interpretation · Dye analysis of Paracas textiles, Journal of Archaeological Science, 2012
1:42 Pottery and Symbolism
1:49 Pottery and Symbolism
2:06 Nazca polychrome vessel, mythic scenes Historical record · Nazca polychrome vessel, Metropolitan Museum of Art
2:24 Nazca polychrome vessel, mythic scenes Historical record · Nazca polychrome vessel, Metropolitan Museum of Art
2:33 Recording Knowledge

Sources

Historical record: Tiwanaku bronze axe, Museo Arqueológico de La Paz · Royal Tomb of the Lord of Sipán, Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán · Gold Sun Disk, Museo Oro del Perú, Cusco · Huayrachina high‑altitude smelting furnace, Sillustani archaeological report · Wari bronze figurine, Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Peru · Paracas 4 textile, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Lima · Nazca feathered tunic, Metropolitan Museum of Art · Inca qompi cloth, Museo del Banco Central, Peru · Moche portrait vessel, Museo Larco, Lima · Nazca polychrome vessel, Metropolitan Museum of Art · Tiwanaku blackware jar, British Museum · Quipu, Museo del Banco Central, Peru · Khipu: An Inca Accounting System, Ascher, 2003

Tradition / scripture: Chronicle of the Incas, Garcilaso de la Vega, 1609

The Institute's interpretation: Dye analysis of Paracas textiles, Journal of Archaeological Science, 2012 · Andean Ceramic Technology, John H. Rowe, 1970 · The Khipu: A Study of the Inca Recording System, Gary Urton, 1994 · The Khipu: A New Look at an Ancient System, Sabine Hyland, 2015

Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 68 s of CPU.

Scenes Hathor has no parts for yet (34) — the next things to make

Excavators uncover a richly furnished burial chamber, revealing gleaming gold ornaments on a seated elite.
Excavators uncover a richly furnished burial chamber, revealing gleaming gold ornaments on a seated elite.
Andean workers stoking a stone furnace, wind channeled through tunnels into glowing copper ore.
Andean workers stoking a stone furnace, wind channeled through tunnels into glowing copper ore.
A Paracas weaver at a back‑strap loom, threading dyed alpaca fibers into a complex geometric pattern.
A Paracas weaver at a back‑strap loom, threading dyed alpaca fibers into a complex geometric pattern.
A Paracas weaver at a back‑strap loom, threading dyed alpaca fibers into a complex geometric pattern.
A Nazca noble wearing a bright cotton tunic with vibrant quetzal feathers during a ceremonial dance.
Inca courtiers draped in shimmering white qompi as they stand before the Sapa Inca.
Inca courtiers draped in shimmering white qompi as they stand before the Sapa Inca.
Close‑up of a Paracas loom where a weaver crushes cochineal insects into a red pigment.
A Nazca noble wearing a bright cotton tunic with vibrant quetzal feathers during a ceremonial dance.
A Nazca noble wearing a bright cotton tunic with vibrant quetzal feathers during a ceremonial dance.
A Moche potter shaping a clay portrait of a warrior, adding fine details with a stylus.
Artisans applying bright red and black mineral paints to a white‑slipped pot, depicting a hummingbird.
A Tiwanaku potter polishing a slip‑coated jar, then loading it into an open fire.
A cross‑section view of a potter adding coils of clay and smoothing them into a vessel.
A cross‑section view of a potter adding coils of clay and smoothing them into a vessel.
A Moche potter shaping a clay portrait of a warrior, adding fine details with a stylus.
A Moche potter shaping a clay portrait of a warrior, adding fine details with a stylus.
Artisans applying bright red and black mineral paints to a white‑slipped pot, depicting a hummingbird.
A Tiwanaku potter polishing a slip‑coated jar, then loading it into an open fire.
A Tiwanaku potter polishing a slip‑coated jar, then loading it into an open fire.
A quipucamayoc tying knots of varying sizes onto a main cord while reciting numbers.
A quipucamayoc tying knots of varying sizes onto a main cord while reciting numbers.
A quipucamayoc tying knots of varying sizes onto a main cord while reciting numbers.
A colonial chronicler observing an Inca official directing a quipucamayoc to read a cord.
A colonial chronicler observing an Inca official directing a quipucamayoc to read a cord.
A modern researcher comparing two quipus, pointing out differing color sequences.
A modern researcher comparing two quipus, pointing out differing color sequences.