The Leymebamba textiles
by
Lena Bjerregaard
I spent November and December
2001 in Leymebamba, Peru, studying and working on the textiles from the
200 mummies found at Laguna de los Condores in 1997. The mummies date to ca. 1400-1500. They are now in a museum built
for them on the outskirts of Leymebamba.
The Chachapoya textiles are both
Inka, regional, and a mixture of the two, with a touch of Chimu and Lambayeque
influence. Many exquisite textile techniques are used and most of the textiles
are not so rigid as pure Inka textiles. The Chachapoya regional textiles differ
from other Andean textiles in their iconography and in some techniques and
colors used. A number of the textiles are cut, folded and sewn. The textiles
are in excellent condition, but so far none of the tests conducted have
indicated any added chemical that could have helped keep these mummies and
textiles from deteriorating in the humid climate of the rainforest. However,
the research, including identification of the dyes, is ongoing.
My research concerning possible
identification of Chachapoya textiles in the Ethnographic Museum in Berlin is
proceeding. Most of the textiles in our
collection are classified according to their finding place, Pachacamac, and the
identification of Chachapoya textiles among them could indicate a cultural
contact between Chachapoyas and Pachacamac.
Lena Bjerregaard, a native Dane, received her B.A. in American Indian Languages and Cultures and her M.A. in textile conservation at the University of Copenhagen. Her thesis, on the pre-Columbian textile collection of the National Museum of Copenhagen, is published as a catalogue of the museum. She worked in textile conservation at the National Museum of Copenhagen for many years, and has worked since 2000 at the Ethnographic Museum in Berlin, where she is responsible for the museum's large collection of pre-Columbian textiles. Her research on the Laguna de los Condores textiles was sponsored by the Foundation for the Research and Conservation of Andean Monuments, New York.