Wrap the dead

Textile remains are not a common source of archaeological research, as their fragile, organic nature rarely allows preservation in archaeological contexts. Only in extreme dry environments such as deserts or caves, or in extreme wet and oxygen-free environments, will textiles withstand the natural process of decay. This is unfortunate as textiles and especially daily attire have been demonstrated to form the most suitable material to express a people's social and ethnic identity, today as well as in the past.
 
The research presented in this book is based on the textile collections from four late- and post-Tiwanaku sites from the middle and lower Osmore valley in the extreme south of Peru, roughly dated A.D. 1000.
 The objectives of this study can be summarized as follows: 


*demonstrating the applicability of ethnographic data in archaeological textile studies,
*summarizing the Tiwanaku, Ilo-Tumilaca/ Cabuza and Chiribaya textile traditions,
*presenting the Osmore textiles,
*identifying the cultural identity of the lower Osmore people,
*explore the potential of the Osmore textiles in combination with their contextual data,
*interregional comparison of South Central Andean textile studies.