Ceramics Galore

fair on one of the plazas 

We were disappointed when we tried to go to a fair that was suppose to include quipus but sadly it did not. It was fun to get to look around at a lot of the little nick-nacks and listen to the music; though, trying to barter with some of the natives for some souvenirs was quite a trip. I learned I'm terrible at it, so I didn't buy anything today. Luckily there were some amazing views to take pictures of instead. I've learned the views in Cuzco are amazing from almost everywhere in the city.

Once we got to the first museum of the day, Museo de Arte Precolumbiano,  it was interesting to note the repetition of the stairs symbol that we have seen throughout the other museums come together with many of the cultures in one location. We saw the stair symbolism in ceramics from: virú (1250BC-1AD),  paracas (1250BC-1AD),  Moche (1-800AD),  Nasca (1-800AD), and the Inca (1300-1532AD).

Virú
 (stairs on top right)

Paracas
(stairs around the top)

Moché
(stairs upside down near the bottom of the two bars)

Nasca
(stairs around rim)

Inca
(stairs throughout)

These are just some of the artifacts that were on display that had the same pattern. This demonstrates the importance of the three worlds to the culture of all these Pre-Columbian civilizations. 

Museo Inka quipu

I was also happy to get to see quipus again. It had been quite a long time since we had seen any so I snuck a picture while at the Museo Inka when I wasn't suppose to.  The quipu in the picture on the right doesn't seem to have the knots lining up like a large number of the quipus tend to do. This is one of the indicators that has led some researchers to possibly believe that these quipus were actually used as mnemonic devices. It could be as simple as how we use pictures today to tell stories just as I am doing now with the pictures of the ceramics and the quipu. There could also be a form of a table of contents in the first 4 cords since they are all the same color and then from there we see a consistent pattern of the color changing every two cords. The first 4 cords may help the story teller identify certain information to be able to tell a story better as apposed to our usual interpretation including numbers.