Reading Between the Lines: A Symmetry Analysis of Late Intermediate Period Chiribaya Mortuary Ceramics

This presentation examines whether the specific arrangement and organization of geometric elements in design structures found on ceramic vessels in a burial context reveals key information related to the mortuary practices of the Chiribaya, a prehispanic coastal people. The cemeteries of two sites are the focus of this research, Chiribaya Alta and Chiribaya Baja, located in the Ilo valley region of the Osmore drainage, southern Peru. Radiocarbon dates place the occupation of these sites between AD 700/750 – 1359. A detailed symmetry analysis of ceramic design structures on 247 Chiribaya vessels from the cemeteries of Chiribaya Alta and Chiribaya Baja revealed that artists who created the designs preferred a specific and limited set of design structures when organizing the patterns. Moreover, Dr. Dziedzic proposes that the symmetric arrangement of the geometric designs metaphorically encoded critical spatial and temporal knowledge referring to the physical environment and solar observations.