TEXTILES AS POLITICAL ART

By comparing the role of textile craft specialization in the ancient Southwest to the central highlands of Peru, I explore how textiles act as a form of political art. Political art is a symbolic interpretation illustrating the relationship between a society's expression of power and life. Three lines of evidence help illustrate the comparison: archaeological data, ethnohistoric data, and ethnographic analogy. Peruvian textiles during the Wanka II to Wanka III transition symbolize an effective form of political control. The creation, trade and acquisition of the symbolically loaded crafts aid in sanctification of chiefly authority, ensuring acceptance of the political hierarchy. In contrast, textiles from the late Pueblo II to early Pueblo III transition in the Western Anasazi region symbolize an affective means of political control. The physical transformation of cotton into cloth is part of a longer prayer expressing a request to the rainmaking gods for water. In both instances, the societies of the two transition periods mark significant sociopolitical reorganization resulting in an increased demand for textiles. Yet, the symbolic meaning associated with textile production differs given two very different social contexts-- the Western Anasazi, a broadly defined, widely dispersed tribal structure, and the Wanka, a complex chiefdom resettled by the Incan state