Object Name: Headband
Place of Origin/Cultural Group: Wari culture, Nasca Valley, south coast of Peru.
Date: Middle Horizon, circa 600-1000 CE
Materials Used: Cotton warp, camelid-hair weft; tapestry and weft-paced plain weave with complementary weft-gloat patterning
Dimensions: 47 x 7 cm
Credit Line and Accession Number: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Doran H. Ross. X90.698.

Four selvages are present.
The hook-like motifs woven in the center of this headband are reminiscent of the abstract designs carved on the stone stelae from archaeological sites around Lake Titicaca, such as Atarco or Pucara. These sites are associated with early Yaya-Mama culture, the religious tradition of which precede that of the highland Tiwanaku and Wari cultures. The designs, tightly woven in tapestry with areas of two-color geometric patterning, were likely intended to give protection to the weaver.

Source: Elena Phipps, The Peruvian Four-Selvaged Cloth. Ancient Threads / New Directions. Fowler Museum Textile Series, No. 12, Los Angeles, 2013