Introduction into the history of the textile collection at the Ethnological Museum Berlin

Abstract

When the Ethnological Museum at Berlin was founded, it counted already with several hundred pieces from South America. Only a minor part them belonged to pre-Columbian cultures from the Andes. While most of these pieces were ceramics almost no ancient fabrics could be found in the collection. This reflected the collector’s interests focusing on objects made of ceramic, stone or metal and on human remains. Consequently, the first pieces of fabric reached the museum at Berlin as parts of mummy cloths. This did not change until 1879, when the collection of Reiss and Stübel was acquired for the museum. It was the result of the comprehensive saving of all finds from their archaeological excavation activities in Ancón. At the same time, this material has to be considered the foundation of Berlin’s famous textile collection. The paper traces the development of this collection from its early years until the major acquisitions in the early 20thcentury. It is suggested that the establishment of textile research as an own branch of Andean archaeology was closely linked to this collection.