From whorl to cloth: An analysis of textile production in the Tiwanaku provinces

Abstract

Studies of prehispaic Andean textile production, which featured prominently in domestic and state economies, have drawn on typology and context analyses of spindle whorl assemblages, supplemented by ethnohistorical descriptions of cloth, to reconstruct craft specialization, gender dynamics, and tribute systems. The excellent preservation of cloth in the southern Andes, offers a unique opportunity to compare the inferences gained from spindle whorl analyses with the attributes of surviving textile assemblages, specifically the quality of yarn and finished cloth. Here, we present a study of spindle whorls and cloth associated with the Middle Horizon (A.D. 500–1100) state of Tiwanaku in the south-central Andes. In the first part of this study, we propose a regional typology for Tiwanaku spindle whorls, introducing new evidence from Tiwanaku provincial sites in Moquegua, Peru. The subsequent comparison of spindle whorl types with yarns and cloth qualities from mortuary and domestic textiles found in Moquegua reveals spinning and weaving to be mechanically, cognitively, and contextually distinct processes that are nevertheless part of an integrated process. We conclude that Tiwanaku textile production was at once embedded in multigenerational and gendered communities, and probably more informal than in other prehispanic Andean states.