Waistcloth from grave, from grave in cemetery

This woven tasselled waistcloth was among the garments worn by a 'mummy bundle' burial in the huge cemetery at Ancon in Peru. The design and colour would have been symbolically important. Hot, dry conditions have preserved it.

This finely woven wool garment features a design of stylised birds set inside a border, with a woollen cord tassel fringe below.

Before the Spanish conquered Peru, people buried their dead in underground graves. Bodies were placed inside 'mummy bundles', and propped upright to resemble living, sitting people. Grave goods reflected their gender and status.

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