Andean Inca 3
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into the exquisite Inca gold work, predominantly from money bundles, and the conquistadors' focus on such treasures. It revisits Andean ceramics, highlighting a 15th-century piece exemplifying superb craftsmanship and the Cuzco style. The script describes a ceremonial vessel used for pouring sacred liquids, adorned with animal figures symbolizing the Inca Empire's diverse regions. It also discusses the 'ari bios' storage jar, its functionality, and the significance of its design. The video touches on Inca religious practices, including human and child sacrifice, and the concept of cultural relativism. It showcases various artifacts like mummy bundles, votive figures, and a detailed cast silver llama, explaining the casting and repoussé techniques used in their creation.
Takeaways
- 🏺 The Inca civilization produced exquisite gold work, much of which was focused on by conquistadors like Pizarro.
- 🎨 Ceramics from the Andean groups, particularly the Cuzco style from the early 15th century, were of superb craftsmanship with limited forms but unique designs.
- 🐫 A creative Inca ceramic example includes a bowl with animal figures serving as pouring spouts, symbolizing the diverse environments of the Inca Empire.
- 🍶 The Inca used special vessels for pouring sacred liquids like chicha, a corn beer, for fertility and crop growth.
- 🗝️ The 'Ari bios', a storage jar from the Cuzco area, was used for transporting and storing fermented beverages and other items.
- 🌐 The spread of Cuzco-style ceramics indicates extensive trade and cultural exchange across the Andean region.
- 🌟 The Inca revered the sun and moon, practiced human sacrifice, and had a complex religious system with shamans and priests.
- 👶 The concept of cultural relativism is important when discussing practices like child sacrifice in the Inca culture.
- 🪦 Mummy bundles from the Inca civilization reveal the significance of textiles and the preservation of grave goods.
- 🏺 Gold and silver votive figures, often found in mummy bundles, were used for spiritual purposes and were crafted using casting techniques.
- 🔩 Casting techniques like the lost wax process and repoussé were used to create intricate metalwork in Inca culture.
Q & A
What was the primary focus of the conquistadors like Pizarro in the Inca Empire?
-The primary focus of the conquistadors, including Pizarro, was on the Inca gold.
How was Inca ceramic production controlled?
-Inca ceramic production was controlled by the state, and items made and used in Cuzco were known as the Cuzco style.
What is the significance of the unique Inca ceramic bowl with animal figures?
-The bowl with animal figures, including a llama and a bird, served as a ceremonial vessel for pouring sacred liquids like chicha onto the earth for fertility and crop growth. The animals may symbolize the diverse environments and regions of the Inca Empire.
What is an 'ari bios' and how was it used?
-An 'ari bios' is a storage jar developed in the Cuzco area, used for storing and transporting fermented corn beer and other items. It has a large body, low-lying handles, a long neck, and a pointed base for stability when set into the ground.
What is the cultural significance of the lug on the 'ari bios' jar?
-The lug on the 'ari bios' is a bump typically carved into the shape of an animal head, used for threading ropes through it to carry the jar on the backs of porters or llamas.
How were the Inca's religious practices reflected in their artifacts?
-Inca religious practices are reflected in artifacts such as mummy bundles and votive figures, indicating a complex belief system with human sacrifice, shamans, and a pantheon of gods.
What is the meaning behind the preservation of child mummies in Inca culture?
-In Inca culture, the preservation of child mummies signifies the most sacred act a family could perform, showing the utmost devotion and not a lack of love for the child.
What is the purpose of votive figures in Inca culture?
-Votive figures in Inca culture were used for spiritual purposes, similar to votive candles in Catholic churches, and were often placed in graves as offerings.
How was the silver llama figure with inlay work created?
-The silver llama figure was created using a combination of casting and inlay work, with hammered metal sheets shaped and bent to form the figure, and then inlay work was added for detail.
What is the lost wax process mentioned in the script, and how was it used in Inca culture?
-The lost wax process is a casting technique used to create detailed metal figures. It involves creating a wax model, embedding it in a heat-resistant substance, and pouring molten metal into the mold to replace the wax, which is then removed, leaving the metal figure.
Outlines
🏺 Inca Ceramics and Goldwork
The paragraph discusses the exquisite Inca goldwork and the prevalence of gold in money bundles due to the conquistadors' focus on it. It revisits the topic of Andean ceramics, highlighting a unique 15th-century Inca ceramic piece from the Cuzco style. This piece, used for ceremonial purposes, features a bowl with animal figures as pouring spouts and is painted with black slip and red over a buff terra cotta color. The animals are believed to symbolize the diverse regions of the Inca Empire. The paragraph also introduces the 'ari bios' storage jar, used for transporting and storing fermented corn beer and other items, with a unique shape and a lug for carrying.
👶 Inca Religious Practices and Artifacts
This paragraph delves into Inca religious practices, including human and child sacrifice, and the role of shamans or priests. It emphasizes the concept of cultural relativism, suggesting that child sacrifice, while repugnant to modern sensibilities, was considered a sacred act by the Incas. The discussion includes the preservation of a mummy bundle and the significance of textiles in Inca culture. It also describes various gold and silver votive figures, including a silver llama with inlay work, and explains the casting technique used to create these artifacts. The paragraph concludes with a brief mention of the repousse technique, used for creating detailed metalwork.
⚒️ Metalworking Techniques in Inca Culture
The final paragraph briefly mentions the use of metalworking techniques in creating representative models, suggesting a continuation of the discussion on Inca craftsmanship and the techniques used to produce their intricate metal artifacts.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Inca Gold Work
💡Ceramics
💡Cusco Style
💡Sacred Liquids
💡Ari Bio
💡Lug
💡Polychrome
💡Cultural Relativism
💡Mummy Bundle
💡Votive Figures
💡Casting Technique
Highlights
Examples of beautiful Inca gold work are primarily from money bundles due to the conquistadors' focus on Inca gold.
Inca ceramic production was state-controlled, with items from Cuzco known as the Cuzco style.
A 15th-century ceramic piece showcases superb craftsmanship with a limited range of forms and designs.
A unique ceramic piece features a shallow, in-curved bowl with animal-shaped pouring spouts.
The vessel is slip painted in black with red over a buff terra cotta color, adorned with segmented bands of insects.
The piece is a ceremonial vessel used for pouring sacred liquids like chicha for ensuring fertility and crop growth.
Animals depicted on the vessel may symbolize the diverse environments and regions of the Inca Empire.
A storage jar called an ari bios, developed in the Cuzco area, was used for storing and transporting fermented corn beer.
Ari bios jars feature a pointed base for stability when set into soft earth.
The jars have a lug for attaching ropes, indicating they were carried by porters or llamas.
Cuzco-style ceramics were transported great distances, indicating extensive trade and cultural influence.
The Inca revered the sun and moon, practiced human sacrifice, and had a complex religious system with shamans and priests.
Child sacrifice in Inca culture was considered a sacred act, reflecting deep familial love and commitment.
A mummy bundle reveals the extreme preservation state of a child, along with grave goods like gold figures and a silver llama.
Votive figures, cast from gold, were used for spiritual purposes and often dressed in textiles.
A cast silver figure with ear flares and a headdress is an example of the casting technique used in Inca culture.
Casting technique, known as the lost wax process, involved creating a wax model, embedding it in a higher melting point substance, and pouring molten metal.
Repousée technique involved hammering and bending sheets of metal to create detailed designs, as seen in a cast llama with inlay work.
Transcripts
the examples of beautiful inca gold work
but the majority seems to be coming from
money bundles because pisarro
and the other conquistadors their
primary focus was on
the inca gold we will talk about this in
our conversation about the contact
period
but we can't leave our andean groups
without revisiting
ceramics one more time this is a
fascinating example from the early 15th
century
quite large about three
by five inches across
inca ceramic production was controlled
by the state as was so much
so things that were made and used in
cusco
were known as the cusco style and that's
what you see here
and that naming system is going to carry
over into
the post contact period as well
this is a time of superb craftsmanship
but there is a limited range of forms
and designs
unique and appealing and creative
and this is an example that falls into
that very creative
category this is a shallow slightly
in curved bowl that sits on three little
supports
with a smaller bowl inside there are two
long-necked animals a llama and a bird
they're attached on one side
and they connect the inner and outer
bowls respectively they serve
as pouring spouts there is a slender
spotted body of a third animal maybe
some kind of cat
that's draped over part of the larger
bowl and his paws then gripping the rim
and of course this is the moment that i
love right here
the vessel is slip painted in black
with red over a buff terra cotta color
and we see segmented bands with insects
around the lower portion of the bowl
this is a ceremonial vessel used for
pouring
sacred liquids such as chicha which is a
corn beer
onto the earth to ensure fertility and
to grow
plentiful crops scholars think that the
animals here
may refer to the diverse environment and
regions of the inca empire
a seabird referring to the ocean
the llama referring to the highlands and
the big cat referring to the rain forest
to the east
this is a fascinating shape that we
really haven't encountered
before a storage jar known as an ari
bios
a-r-y-b-a-l-l-o-s
again in the early 15th century
this is a shape developed in the cusco
area known as the cusco bottle
and it borrows that name so scholars get
that ari bios name
borrowing it from the greek
these are found from four inches high to
45 inches high
and it has this very large
body with low lying
handles a long neck that curves to a
thin lip
with a moderate sized mouth the
interesting things happen down at the
foot
where it tapers to the point and that
pointed base would allow it to be set
into the soft earth for stability
these were created by the large number
and used for storage and transportation
of not only the fermented corn beer but
other things
as well but what's really interesting is
centered right where the neck meets the
shoulder of the pot is this little bump
called a lug lug and they're generally
carved into the shape of an animal head
and this would have had a set of ropes
pulled through it
and then the ropes would be secured uh
to be carried either on the backs of
porchers human porters or perhaps
on the side of a llama we've got a
beautiful polychrome
geometric pattern painted in slip
and these examples that are made in
cusco in this cusco style can be
found all over the andean region so they
would have been transported great
distances
so we know that the sun and the moon are
both sacred
to the inca and we know that they have a
pantheon so they've got
many gods in their religious world we
know
that they practice human sacrifice
and that there are shamans or priests
that cater to the masses but then also
cater directly to
the personal worship needs of the inca
emperors
as well one of the things that we
discuss
in the early cultures is the concept of
cultural relativism and we'll discuss
this
when we get to the aztec as well of
course the
idea of child sacrifice is completely
repugnant to us in the 21st century
but what you need to remember is that a
family who would give their
child for religious sacrifice that would
have been the most sacred
act that the family ever did they did
not take it lightly and it doesn't mean
that they didn't love their children
they loved their children the most of
all and that is how they would give them
in sacrifice this is a
mummy bundle that revealed a child
and you notice the extreme state of
preservation
of this mummy bundle the little objects
that you see below
were wrapped up in the layers of the
textiles so the textiles
maintain that significance as they have
with other
culture groups and they survive in good
condition
so objects like these little gold
figures
the silver llama that we'll take a
better look at in just a moment
here is a close-up of these votive
figures so a votive means something that
is for
spiritual purpose if you go into a
catholic church you'll see votive
candles they're made for saying prayers
for remembrances and so these are cast
from gold we'll talk about casting
technique here
generally these are about three or four
inches high and they are solid
these are grave goods and they're almost
always dressed in textiles
and that's what you will see happening
in examples
like what you see here so what we've got
is
a silver figure
so this is a cast silver figure you
notice that he's
he's uh was fitted with ear flares he's
got a headdress
on and on the right then is his
attire the clothing that he would have
worn so this
little outfit would have been on this
figure and then wrapped
in this larger textile and tied with the
knotted cord
this little bag here is what's called a
cocoa bag for carrying
the coca leaf the figure is about two
and a half
inches high and this what would have
been used as
an offering the little figure
evidently contains about seven sheets of
mixed
metals he's got his engraved headband
and the textile is divided into that
familiar four
quadrant design
this particular example is the one found
in the
child sacrifice mummy bundle that i
showed you a moment ago
and you can see a figure that is made
from silver
a amazing feather headdress
uh he is about uh
seven inches high and then he has all of
this attire
on him which is in amazing condition
here then is a detail of this wonderful
cast llama
with inlay work so he's made from silver
and then they've done some carving and
some inlay work
and i love the proportion i love the
expression
on the face of the llama and and the way
that their ears stand up
let's talk briefly about casting
this is a technique that's used across
time in culture
it's often referred to as the lost wax
process
so you're going to make the figure in
the shape that you want in a wax or
clay-like substance you're going to
embed it
in a substance that has a higher melting
point than the metal that you're using
you're going to attach a little device
called a sprue which acts like a funnel
so the molten liquid will be poured
through
the top of the compound it travels down
the sprue and then fills the space
and that is how this little object was
made so he is
cast from silver and then our other
technique that we see
is called reposse and so this little
llama who also has he looks very
irritated by the whole process
this was made from sheets of hammered
metal
so hammered and bent and then these
beautiful in
sized lines we call it by the term that
we use today
reposse which is you can go to the craft
store and buy gold or silver or copper
and you can create a represent model
today
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