Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

wears a necklace of owl-head beads. The figure’s bladelike crescent-
shaped helmet is a replica of the large golden one buried with the
Sipán lord. The war club and shield also match finds in the Warrior
Priest’s tomb. The ear ornament of the jewelry image is a simplified
version of the piece itself. Other details also correspond to actual
finds—for example, the removable nose ring that hangs down over
the mouth. The value of the Sipán find is incalculable for what it
reveals about elite Moche culture and for its confirmation of the ac-
curacy of the iconography of Moche artworks.

Tiwanaku and Wari

The bleak highland country of southeastern Peru and southwestern
Bolivia contrasts markedly with the warm valleys of the coast. In the
Bolivian mountains, the Tiwanaku culture (ca. 100–1000 CE) devel-
oped beginning in the second century CE. North of Paracas in Peru,
the Wari culture (ca. 500–800 CE) dominated parts of the dry coast.

TIWANAKUNamed after its principal archaeological site on the
southern shore of Lake Titicaca, the Tiwanaku culture flourished for
nearly a millennium. It spread to the adjacent coastal area as well as
to other highland regions, eventually extending from southern Peru
to northern Chile. Tiwanaku was an important ceremonial center.
Its inhabitants constructed grand buildings using the region’s fine
sandstone, andesite, and diorite. Tiwanaku’s imposing Gateway of
the Sun (FIG. 14-25) is a huge monolithic block of andesite pierced
by a single doorway. Moved in ancient times from its original loca-

tion within the site, the gateway now forms part of an enormous

walled platform. Relief sculpture crowns the gate. The central figure

is a Tiwanaku version of the Chavín staff god (FIG. 14-19). Larger

than all the other figures and presented frontally, he dominates the

composition and presides over the passageway. Rays project from his

head. Many terminate in puma heads, representing the power of the

highlands’ fiercest predator. The staff god—possibly a sky and weather

deity rather than the sun deity the rayed head suggests—appears in art

throughout the Tiwanaku horizon, associated with smaller attendant

figures. Those of the Gateway of the Sun are winged and have human

or condor heads. Like the puma, the condor is an impressive carni-

vore, the largest raptor in the world. Sky and earth beings thus con-

verge on the gate, which probably served as the doorway to a sacred

area, a place of transformation. The reliefs were once colorfully

painted. Artists apparently also inlaid the figures’ eyes with turquoise

and covered the surfaces with gold, producing a dazzling effect.

WARIThe flat, abstract, and repetitive figures surrounding the

central figure on the Gateway of the Sun recall woven textile designs.

Indeed, the people of the Tiwanaku culture, like those of Paracas,

were consummate weavers, although far fewer textiles survive from

the damp highlands. However, excavators have recovered many ex-

amples of weaving, especially tunics, from the contemporaneous

Wari culture in Peru.

Although Wari weavers fashioned cloth from both wool and cot-

ton fibers, as did earlier Paracas weavers (FIG. 14-20), the resemblance

South America 385

14-25Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku, Bolivia, ca. 375–700 CE. Stone, 9 10 high.

The Gateway of the Sun probably led into a sacred area at Tiwanaku. The central figure is a version of the Chavín staff god

(FIG. 14-19). The relief was once painted, inlaid with turquoise, and covered with gold.