Ancient Symmetry

Ancient Peruvian culture is very recognizable compared to other old tribal lifestyles. The art contained in the ruins of villages in the Andes Mountains are independent of other regions of the world. With this said, there exists a mode of art that is popular with pre-Incan cultures.

The primary aspect of the first tribes is the block style of design. Most of their creations take on a square, rectangular, or triangular form. Animals, mostly feline, snakes, or birds, and people and god-like subjects have square faces, block shaped noses, or other rectangular body parts. In addition to these, the designs surrounding the focus point of their art is also square. Lines move like stairs: straight, ninety degree turn right, straight, ninety degree turn left. Swirls and twists also move the same way. They only change direction at sharp angles. At first, these patterns seem simple and easy, but at closer attention, you can see the work that was put into the fabrics and ceramics.

In many nose pieces, jewelry, and vases, we find the reoccurring theme of symmetry. Swirls and faces go in opposing directions in opposite sides of the clothing and cups, so that you are able to find the line of reflection easily. Close attention must be paid for even the smallest detail, for some of the pieces are actually transformations or not symmetrical at all.

Units that can be rotated and reflected are classified as dihedral. If a unit cannot be reflected, only rotated, it is classified as cyclic. When analyzing shapes and patterns, you can go in further detail by using number to show how many times a piece can be rotated or reflected.

Here are some examples of reflection:

 In this piece, from what I can tell from the picture, it seems symmetric overall. You can draw a line down the middle of the creature's face and the two sides will seem to reflect. There are, of course, small differences, such as the eyebrows not being the exact same shape and the teeth not being the exact same size. I see these as accidental, human mistakes rather than the artist attempting to differentiate the two sides.

This piece, however, is much different. At first glance, it does seem symmetrical down the middle. Minus the color of the headpiece. But the raised arm on his right side take away the idea that he is symmetric.