A Survey of Ancient Peruvian Art. 327 



There can be but little doubt that the culture which we call Tia- 

 huanaco II was the most highly developed in South America. 

 It even rivals the Maya culture of the "Old Empire" cities in 

 the southern part of Yucatan. 



It may be true that it i*? dangerous to measure the actual spread 

 of a culture by the uv^ui^v^aries of the territory within which 

 remains of its distinctive products are to be found. Political 

 affinities, of course, cannot be determined by any such evidence ; 

 but, nevertheless, the fact that Tiahuanaca II objects are found 

 from Colombia to Argentina is a proof that the cultural domi- 

 nance of Tiahuanaco II was exceedingly widespread. 



As we have seen, there was a shift, in the transition from 

 Proto-Chimu to Proto-Nasca, from a light-toned art enriched by 

 good modelling to a dark-toned art characterized by poor and 

 slight modelling. For reasons to be brought out later it is but 

 natural that we should find the characteristics of Proto-Nasca art 

 carried on to their logical development in the art of Tiahuanaco 

 II. This natural state of affairs is found to exist. 



In Plate VII we see an important portion of the largest mono- 

 lithic gateway -at Tiahuanaco. It may safely be said to be an 

 epitome of Tiahuanaco II art. Its characteristics, from our 

 point of view, may be listed thus: (i) A headdress decorated 

 with ray-like tabs. (2) Square-headed chief figure with round 

 eyes from which run down the "tears." (3) A short stoiit body 

 with a necklace and a short, skirt-like garment held up by bands 

 that run over the shoulders. (4) Four-digit hands holding cere- 

 monial staves. All these elements will, of course, be analyzed 

 in full later on. 



In general terms, one may say that Tiahuanaco II art, whether 

 in stone, pottery, textiles or bronze, is the most elaborate we have 

 yet seen. Birds with human bodies, pumas, fishes and other ani- 

 mal forms combine with almost innumerable conventionalized 

 decorations to form an art of surpassing complexity. In the 

 pottery of this period we find a sacrifice of coloration to a per- 

 fection of the almost glaze-like finish. In other cases, however, 

 Tiahuanaco II pottery has neither rich coloration nor fine finish. 

 Red and black are the chie.f colors employed, though sometimes 

 white is found as well. The textiles, however, naturally preserve 

 a wider range of tint. Unfortunately, most of those that have 

 survived into our day come from the coast and so do not repre- 



