Vicús Funerary Attire, Crowns and Headdresses

Room 11, Vitrine 140

Metal
Peruvian Northern Coast
Formative Epoch (1250 BC – 1 AD)
ML100825, ML100826, ML100832-ML100834, ML101552, ML101562.

The political and religious leaders of the societies of ancient Peru consolidated their power during the Formative Epoch. The members of the elite dressed themselves with crowns, breastplates, ear ornaments and nose ornaments made from gold and copper and when they died these objects, which were part of their identity, went with them into the next world.

In Vicús culture funerary contexts some crowns have been found which were deliberately bent in a practice we might describe as the “sacrifice” of the piece. As important symbols of the identity of the individual who was buried with them, these objects also “died” during the burial. The crown not only accompanied the deceased as part of their funerary attire; it also accompanied them through the transformation required for their entrance into the world of the dead.

Gilded copper crowns and breastplate.