There is ample evidence that Pre-Conquest Latin American cultures were extremely skilled in the art of weaving and textiles. Cloth production flourished in such civilizations as the Inca, Maya, and the Aztec where the elite of the society dressed with magnificence to equal their status in society. Smaller societies also produced notable cloth and weaving specimens although it is not as easy to find as in the larger civilizations.
In these cultures, cloth was used for warmth, for ritual, to barter, to designate region and to demonstrate status in society. The decorations on the weaving and clothing is also an important tool in discovering information about the life of the original wearers. They give clues to the religion, hunting styles, important gods and people in the culture and can be used to indicate period and culture.
Due to the heat and damp in many areas of Mesoamerica, relatively few cloth and weaving artifacts have survived through time. There are however, some notable exceptions. Examples of twining, netting and basketry dating to 5000 BC have been found in Mexico. Samples of loom weaving which is associated with agricultural settlements has been found after 1800 BC. The thick mud in a sacred well at Chichén Itza preserved 600 cloth fragments. More information about cloth and textiles have been recovered from dry caves and pottery imprinted with cloth.
Cotton was the predominant material used in Mesoamerica as well as fibers from the agave and yucca plants. Colorants and dyes were cochineal, dye from the shellfish, indigo, brazilwood, logwood, anatto and iron oxide. Double cloth, twill, gauze, weft-warp openwork, plain weaving with warp and weft stripes or checks, end-to-end wrap locking, brocading, and looped-weft weaving styles have all been identified in Mesoamerica.
Valuable weavings were used as offerings to the gods, to decorate the chambers of temples, as wrappings for the dead or for dowry payments. In the Aztec economy, lengths of cloth were an important part of the bartering system used. The Aztec also demanded payments of textiles as tribute from the conquered masses that they ruled over. In Aztec and Mayan cultures, dress was used to indicate status with dress defining priests, nobles, and warriors. The lower classes dress was strictly controlled as a means to keep them under control.
The hot and arid conditions of the
Atacama Desert in western Peru have preserved most of the textiles of South
America. The burials of the Paracas Peninsula in the first millennium B.C. have
also yielded hundreds of textiles. Peruvian artifacts assign the date of
cultivated cotton used for textiles as 3000 BC; however, it was probably
cultivated earlier in Ecuador.
South American cultures also incorporated cotton for their textiles. There was a revolution in textile production that took place after the use of llama "wool" which take to dyes more readily than cotton. Indigo, plant dye and cochineal account for most of the dyes used with these fabrics.
Amazingly, every known weaving technique was utilized in Peruvian textiles and were fully developed by 400 BC. Embroidery and tapestry were extensively used in prehispanic Peru. Braids, fringes and double and treble weave are also found in Nazca and Paracas textiles.
In the late Inca period, the role of Peruvian textiles becomes clear. These textiles were used for many purposes including to mark life stages, ritual purposes, societal status, and to indicate region. The Inca Emperor received the most valuable cloth and the lower classes received the least valuable cloth.
Although modern European clothing styles have become popular with many people in Latin American communities, weaving and textiles still play an important role in national and ethnic identity in Latin America. Contemporary textiles fuse the clothing styles and techniques of the conquest with the traditional styles used by the indigenous populations. Clothing style, especially for females has been relatively untouched in many areas since the conquest. These populations are intent on preserving their Native American heritage. Cloth style and design is still used to designate origin, cultural group and status within the community.
Hendrickson, Carol. Weaving Identities:
Construction of Dress and Self in a Highland Guatamalan Town. Austin,
University of Texas Press. 1995
Harris, Jennifer. Textiles, 5000 Years. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1993.