Tie Dye Mantle, South Coast, Nazca Culture, 200-600 CE. A very fine four-selvage alpaca loom panel in cochineal red with repeated tie-dyed yellow circles. The Nazca developed a variety of textile embellishments to designate the elite members of their society. This enigmatic shawl is part of a select body of garments produced in a new way first devised by them to distinguish wearers from the common people's forms of textile decoration. These austere garments might have been a reference to night skies.

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