headdress. Other fi ndings of the Olmec period are fi gures
wearing varying elements of dress for an ancient ball game
that was an important ritual throughout pre-Columbian
Mesoamerica. Early representations of the Maya also sup-
port the fi ndings that center on forms of skirts or loincloths.
A Mayan incised stone from about 100– 400 c.e. shows a fi g-
ure wearing a patterned skirt and leg coverings in addition
to extensive jewelry and other adornment.
In South America people of the early Chavín civilization
(900–200 b.c.e.) did not wear constructed, or sewn, clothes.
Th ey wore large cloths wrapped as mantles or skirts, a prac-
tice that continued in the Andes even aft er the incorporation
of shaped or sewn clothes. Burial excavations have unearthed
belts, sandals, and caps from the Chavín era. Excavations of
ruler burials from the Paracas civilization (600–175 b.c.e.)
give a limited amount of information on ancient South
American dress. Because the burial sites contain the remains
of deceased elite, not common, people, the items found may
not be typical. In addition, the garments buried with a per-
son might not have been the garments he or she wore in daily
life. Th e articles of clothing found may have been ceremonial,
produced for daily life, or made for burial.
Many of the items found by archaeologists continue to
be worn by Andean people. One such garment is the mantle,
which is a large, rectangular cloth arranged around the neck
and over the shoulders. Th e cloth would have been wovenPottery figures of a drummer and a woman and child, Tala-Tonalá style, Jalisco, Mexico 300 b.c.e. to 300 c.e.; the woman is wearing
earplugs, a necklace, and a typical wrap skirt, while the man wears the same ornaments and a mantle over one shoulder. (© The Trustees
of the British Museum)
clothing and footwear: The Americas 283