A Peruvian Ikat from Pachacamac

Abstract

The Ikat technique, that of producing designs in a fabric by means of a resistdyeing process in which the yarns of the warp, of the weft, or of both the warp and the weft, are pattern-dyed prior to weaving, was believed, until recently, to have been unknown in pre-Columbian Peru (Crawford 1916: 154; Dixon 1928: 201–9; Means 1931: 490). To date only a few examples of archaeological Peruvian textiles patterned by this method have been reported. Dressen (1930: 67) and Bird (1947: 73–4; 1952: 359; Bennett and Bird 1949: 285) mention some of these and Kroeber has spoken of ikats from Supe being present in the University of California Museum of Anthropology (personal communication, September, 1949).