Barcoding spindles and decorating whorls: How weavers marked their property at Cerro Azul, Peru

Abstract

Spindles with painted “barcodes” provide new information on weavers at Cerro Azul (Valley of Cañete). Sets of identically barcoded spindles are often found in a specific workbasket, making it likely that each woman coded some of her personal property. At Cerro Azul, identically barcoded spindles occur in mummy bundles, workbaskets, open-air work spaces, storage bins, and a brewery. The juxtaposition of spinning, weaving, and brewing in one work space suggests Late Intermediate behavior anticipated the aklla—an Inca institution requiring “chosen women” to weave cloth and brew beer. The Inca presumably reconfigured this behavior so that it could be administered at an imperial level, rather than the level of the residential compound as at Cerro Azul (A.D. 1000–1470).

Los husos pintados en el estilo de un código de barras o “barcode” nos proveen de nueva información sobre las tejedoras de Cerro Azul (Valle de Cañete). Grupos de husos con códigos de barras idénticos aparecieron en costureros específicos, aumentando la probabilidad de pensar que cada mujer marcaba su propiedad. En el sitio de Cerro Azul, grupos de husos idénticos se encontraron en los fardos funerarios de las momias, en costureros, en canchones y collcas, y en una chichería. En uno de los canchones había mujeres quienes tejieron y prepararon chicha, cosa que sugiere que algunas prácticas del Intermedio Tardío eran precursoras de la aklla—una institución incaica, en la cual ciertas “mujeres escogidas” combinaban la producción de tejidos y chicha. Los incas, por supuesto, administraron estas prácticas al nivel del imperio, en vez del nivel del conjunto residencial en el sitio de Cerro Azul (1000–1470 d.C.).

Acknowledgments

I thank all the members of the University of Michigan Cerro Azul Project, especially María Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, Kent Flannery, Jeffrey Sommer, Sonia Guillén, Ramiro Matos Mendieta, C. Earle Smith, Charles Hastings, John Jones, James B. Stoltman, and Dwight Wallace. I also thank Kay Clahassey who deserves special thanks for generously preparing all the artwork for this article. Her artwork brings to life all the spindles and their faded barcoding. The Cerro Azul excavations were supported by a University of Michigan Faculty Fund grant and a grant from the National Science Foundation (BNS-8301542). Permission to excavate was granted by the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (Credencial 102-82-DCIRBM, Credencial 041-83-DCIRBM, Credencial 018-84-DPCM, and Resolución Suprema 357-85-ED). I thank Guillermo Cock, Christopher Donnan, Craig Morris, Michael Moseley, and Charles Stanish, who offered excellent advice, either in the field or in writing up these results.