Llauto, Culture Carchi-Pasto (750 AD – 1550 AD), the Casa del Alabado Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, Quito´s Historic Center at an elevation of 2,850 metres (9,350 ft) above sea level, Ecuador.
Image by ER’s Eyes – Our planet is so beautiful.
For thousands of years the men and women of Ecuador made objects inspired by the spiritual and ancestral world.
With creativity these artists expressed their vision of a cosmos where the continuos flow of energy makes all life possible.
***
The llawt’u or llawthu (Quechua) was an outfit of the ruling Sapa Incas. It was a variety of turban with the colours of the Tahuantinsuyo. The llawt’u was traditionally woven from the wool of the vicuña with different-colored plaits. On the front was a stripe of wool called the maskapaycha. The symbol of the quriqinqi was displayed on the front. It has been said that small dried frogs were worn under the garment as part of a tradition whose origins have been long lost.
***
The Carchi Pasto culture was located in northern Ecuador in the province of Carchi, in the inter-Andean region between the Mira and Chota rivers. It extended as far as the Nariño Department of Colombia. Most of the population settled in the territories of Ipiales, Túquerres (Colombia) and Carchi (Ecuador).
It was characterized as being a peaceful, sedentary trading culture. The Carchi Pasto traded Spondylus mollusc shells, coca leaves, salt and jade with other coastal and Amazonian peoples. They were expert hunters of deer, which had a strong symbolic value.
This culture is renowned for its pottery and metallurgy. Many of their pieces feature “coqueros” – human figures in a sitting position with a bulge in their cheeks representing the rite of chewing coca leaves—along with interpretations of sacred animals such as jaguars and monkeys. They specialized in the negative painting technique to decorate their pottery, which was a dark red color. They also made use of positive-space painting, modelling, stone carving and gold-copper alloys. They also used Spondylus shells as beads and collars, which they obtained through trade with other regions.
