Cloth woven on a loom and used to cover the backs of pack animals, elaborated from a strip of cloth with the edges folded and the seams on each side stitched to form two backs.
Region that comprises the altiplano of the department of Oruro, bounded to the north by the frontier with the northern altiplano of the contemporary department of La Paz and to the south by the region between the salt flats. To the west there is the Cordillera Occidental and the border with Chile, whilst to the east, it is bounded by the mountains of Asanaque.
Region that comprises the altiplano of the departament of La Paz up to the boundary with the department of Oruro to the south. To the west it is delimited by the border with Peru and to the east by the interandean valleys and the Cordillera Oriental.
Region that includes the altiplano of the department of Potosí from the salar (saltflat) of Uyuni to the north, down to the border with Argentina to the south. To the west it is limited by the border with Chile, whilst to the east it is limited by the southern region of the interandean valleys.
Brings together the set of generic values assigned to cultural resources from institutional perspectives (State, UNESCO and other organisations). The institutional evaluation is usually based on many points of scientific evaluation and less on local ones and is defined more by how the resources might be definied as monuments from this perspective, so having to do with their visibility and potential for symbolic or economic use on the part of different groups.
Brings together the specific values assigned to cultural resources by local communities in their own terms. This type of evaluation refers to an ethos and a cosmovisión (worldview); it considers forms and types of knowledge, relationships with the environments (landscape), ethics, aesthetics, and religious beliefs. At the same time it has a relation with the traditional use of cultural resources, in dimensions such as worship, domestic activity and the economy. It necessarily requires the identification of strategic actors and cultural groups who live together permanently or temporarily and whose relationship of cultural and economic dependence varies in intensity.
Zoomorphic figurative motif of the human figure, belonging to the known world (liq'u) and the earthly world. In archaeological textiles we find this figure in different postures and with different symmetries, depending on the culture it belongs to (Paracas, Chancay, Nazca). Often it has zoomorphic features, indicating a religious condition. On the other hand, in ethnographic textiles what is common is the elaboration of anthropomorphic figures, connected with some activity (fishing, hunting). We can distinguish between the anthropomorphic in general: of which it can be said that it has no identificatory feature; and the specifically anthropomorphic: a human figure that from its attributes has to be identified with a concrete person recognised by a social group.
Textile characterised by the technique of interknotting, elaborated by hand without a loom, and made out of a single element in a system of inter-relations to produce a determinate genre.
Array of instruments, made out of animal or vegetable fibre by a technique of braiding or plaiting: includes the sling, huichi, jáquima, khipu and rope.
Form of learning involving larger sets of learners organised by gender, to receive communal instruction in the tasks of producing textiles, with different content. In the ways in which Andean instruction is carried out (Aymara, thakhi; Quechua, nan) men and women learn different tasks, depending on the local culture and region. For example, in the south-central Andes women nowadays learn textiles and song, and men plaiting and musical instruments.
Form of learning which involves groups of learners divided by gender and formed into age cohorts to receive communal instruction in the tasks involved in textile production, where content varies according to age.