South Andean Iconography of the Antara

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South Andean Iconography of the Antara José Pérez de Arce

Zusammenfassung

2 Music Iconography Context

Im südlichen Andenraum sind musikikonografische Befunde außerordentlich selten. Eine Ausnahme bildet eine Reihe von Darstellungen aus der Atacama-Wüste und dem Nordwesten Argentiniens. Diese umfassen einen Panflötentyp (antara) und geben einen Einblick in ihre soziokulturellen Kontexte. Die ikonographischen Darstellungen sind in hölzerne Artefakte des ‚complejo de rapé‘ eingeritzt, der in den vier Jahrhunderten vor der spanischen Eroberung von Schamanen für die Inhalation psychoaktiver Substanzen verwendet wurde. Die Beschreibung der antara, der Zusammenhang des ‚complejo de rapé‘ mit anderen Instrumenten aus funerärem Kontext und der Zusammenhang mit Menschenopfer sowie Raubtier- und Llama-Kult liefern Daten, die eine Rekonstruktion der rituellen Kontexte jener Zeit, einschließlich des Gebrauchs der antara, ermöglichen.

The music iconography discussed here occurs in a very strict norm of contextual situations; the supporting object, the representation of objects and the situations show a very narrow context. This is congruent with the lack of musical iconography in the region; if this iconography exists, it happens because a very specific situation occurs that makes this possible. The iconography shows three dimensional miniatures carved on the wooden artifacts of the ‘rape complex’,1 used by shamans to inhale psychoactive powders of cebil (Anadenantera colubrina) seeds.2 The ‘rape complex’ objects are found inside textile bags as part of the funerary objects of the mummies, well preserved by the desert conditions. These objects comprise all the objects necessary for the obtaining and inhaling the psychoactive powder, from the wool bag to keep the seeds, the mortar to crush them, the leather pouch containing the snuff powder, the wooden spoon to put the powder into the snuff tray, and the wooden tube for nasal inhalation of the snuff powder from the snuff tray. The last objects, especially the snuff tray, that are in direct relation with the action of inducing the trance state, are the most covered with iconography. This places the iconography into a very precise context, that of the shaman, and on his most precious objects, the ones directly related with his most proper dominion, that of the dominion of the trance state. Of the thousands of iconographic motives found on these objects, only a few relate to music iconography. Although there are some snuff trays without any ornamentation, in general the variability of this iconography is very great; each object shows a different figure, each one shows a personal choice of theme, mode of carving it, and sculptural style. This situation reminds one of another sha-

1 The Extension of Music ­I conography in the Southern ­A ndes In comparison with Mesoamerica or the central and northern Andes, the southern Andes is characterized by a lack of music iconography from the past. In fact, in Chile I have detected only three cases south of the region covered by this paper. This fact puts the iconography here described as a very rare and special cultural feature. As we will prove, this argument strengthens the idea that these representations relate to a very important ritual aspect of the culture at that time. The zone where these representations have been recovered includes the dessert region today located in northern Chile, southern Bolivia, and Argentina (see Fig. 1). The iconography we will review occurs approximately between 1100 to 1500 AD, that is the late pre-Hispanic period.

1

2

he so called rape complex was named after the rape powT der known to Europeans by the first archeologist to study it. See Torres 2009. See Gili in the same volume.

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manic context, that of southern Chile Mapuches, where each shaman has his own sacred drum (kultrun) painted with a different figure. Here we know the origin of this iconography: the drawing normally comes from a dream, and is the result of his training and his personal “shamanic soul”, so to say. Everybody can “read” the drawing, which shows who is playing the drum, what his powers are, where they come from. The differences mark the uniqueness of each shaman, both in regard to our world and to the spiritual one. In the case of the snuff trays, the most interesting iconographic objects, the placement of the iconography follows strict norms: it is always placed on the same portion of the object (see Fig. 2). This portion, when used, is placed just in front of the eyes (see Fig. 3). This means that while the shaman is inhaling the powder, he can see this miniature closely in front of his eyes. The great speed of the consciousness-alteration that this method implies means that while he sees this figure his mind is altered by the great shock of his transformation of consciousness, which can thus be directed through the visualisation of the ritual context: the image becomes a description of some aspects of the developing transformation, probably a description of some powers or some attributes to be searched for during the trance state. Normally this transformation implies the trasmutation of the shaman into a new personality, that of the representation, to proceed to the ritual. In the description that follows, I will describe all carvings as seen from this point of view, although the three-dimensional carving shows great detail in all its surfaces. Another aspect to consider in the iconographic placement on the snuff tray is the position of the musical instruments. When present they are placed in the centre of the iconographic panel, and are also of great size compared with other objects or features in the same context. This central position is not casual, because it is maintained through different types of iconographical solutions. Both attributes, central position and big size, show the same tendency to heighten importance in the representation. Regarding the attributes of the iconography, there is a great deal of realism in the representation of figures and objects. We can easily recognize certain hats depicted on the snuff trays as being similar to the hats discovered in tombs of the same cultural context; this is also true of the axes, the textiles, the ornaments and the musical instruments. This realism is not common in the art of the region; some ceramic representations show a dramatic capacity to synthesise iconographic attributes.3 Musical iconography on the snuff trays, on the contrary, shows the detailed attributes of objects, becoming a rare descriptive source of pre-Columbian society.

This makes the musical iconography here discussed a unique font of information not available in other cultural context of the past in the region which permits us to enter new fields of interpretation.

3 The Iconographic Representation 3.1 The Musical Instruments The instruments depicted in the series of iconographic representations are only of one type, called by us antaras (see Fig. 4). Real antaras have been discovered in the same region, and are a very stable organological species, with little variation: a four tube panpipe, the tubes being of the complex type, whose organological characteristic is to make it possible to obtain the so called sonido rajado.4 Some of them are carved on wood and some on stone. While sharing the same attribute of being carved objects, in the cases of the ‘rape complex’ objects of very precise sculptural definition and the antaras of very precise acoustic design, they do not share the same attribute of iconographic information. The antaras are almost always deprived of any ornamentation; their surfaces are polished and of great simplicity.

3.2 The Musicians The context in which this instrument is represented varies, but with a finite typology of figures. H ­ orta (2010) studied these figures and defined three ­typologies, which she called “the sacrificer”, “the victim” and “the custodian”. Antaras only appear related with the first two; the “custodian” never hold an antara.5 3.2.1 The Antarist “Sacrificer” The “sacrificer” is easy to recognize, because it is a very well-known image that comes from an old tradition of central Andes cultures and is found in different times and places. Its peculiar features are an axe and a severed human head, each held in one hand. This figure is also represented in the cultures that comprise our study and is not confined to ‘rape complex’ objects. We can distinguish from this iconographic system a series of features that characterize this personage at this time and place:

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4 5

here are series of ceramic vessels that show human faceT like representations that go from realistic to very abstract. See Llagostera 2004, 99. For antaras and sonido rajado descriptions, see Pérez de Arce 1998; Pérez de Arce 2000; Pérez de Arce 2002. Horta 2010.

South Andean Iconography of the Antara

the axe and the severed head, a precise body position, a dress, a hat and a series of ornaments. But a feature only related to the zone of our study is that he sometimes appears with an antara instead of a severed head in one of his hands (see Fig. 5). This substitution tells us of an important link between both objects. The severed head, in the “sacrificer” context, is linked to an important trophy object (which can be from an enemy or from another type of social relationship). Its importance, from all the anthropological and ethnohistorical data available from the Andes, shows that the head was the keeper of the soul of the deceased person, and that having his head is like having the power of his soul. So, the substitution of the head by the antara shows us an important attribute to be linked. Although we cannot assure that this linkage occurred in ancient times, we can assure that this substitution proves that the antara was so important that, at certain specific moments, it could replace one of the most powerful symbols of the epoch. This conclusion fits exactly with all available data about the antara, not only for the region and period studied in this article, but also for previous and later expressions of the same instrument: it is placed in a central position of the culture, with the highest rank among musical instruments, and the highest rank in rituals. The same conclusion can be drawn from the position of the antara in the iconographic composition (see above). The attributes of the “sacrificer” can be summarized as relating to his body and to his garments (see Fig. 6). His face sometimes shows a very prominent nose and chin, and his eyes and mouth are wide open, this last showing a regular series of teeth. The prominence of the nose can be interpreted as the importance of this organ in the ritual: the psychoactive powder was absorbed through the nose, so it becomes the entrance for the sacred substance that permits the shaman to connect with the sacred. This idea is enforced by the knowledge found in all existing American cultures where psychoactive plants are still part of the ritual (mainly in Mesoamerica, the Amazonian basin and the central-north Andean coast). The plant itself is considered as a god, so ingesting it is similar to the ritual of Roman Catholic myth, in which the corpse of the god is “eaten” as the central part of the ceremony. The prominent chin can be interpreted as a tembetá or bezote, an ornament inserted below the lower lip, which then protrudes at the front. This wooden, ceramic or stone ornament was known in the region, and although it is not common in the period of our study, it is possible that it was used as a specific shamanic ornament. The prominent teeth are a widely used symbol to allude to the feline. This ancient attribute appears in the monstrous mouth with teeth from the Chavin culture and continues

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to spread all over the Andes; in our case, the original canine teeth are replaced by a series of equally sized ones, but always maintaining the square form of the mouth so as to show all of them. To summarize, the face of the “sacrificer” depicts a man devoted to inhaling a sacred substance, a man imbued with feline attributes and with a special ornament (tembetá). The body position of this character is standing or kneeling, with both hands at the sides of the body. Sometimes the hand holding the head is in the front, thus reinforcing the spatial relationship between the severed head and the antara. Another prominent aspect of the “sacrificer” is his garment, characterized by a tunic with a band around the waist and a headdress. The tunic leaves both arms and the knees visible. In some depiction the decoration of the band is clearly shown. The headdress is another visible ornament of this personage: sometimes it is a circular helmet, probably with feathers on the top (common to the previous Tiwanaku influence), and sometimes it depicts an elaborate hairdressing that hangs to the back, sometimes braided in a complex manner. Some of these tunics, bands and headdresses have been recovered from tombs in the region. In some nonmusical iconography on snuff trays and tubes the “sacrificer” is depicted with an animal head (see Fig. 7). This has been interpreted as a mask used by the shaman at certain times during rituals (masks are known in the archeo-record of the region) and also as a representation of the magic transformation of the shaman during the same ritual.6 It is very possible that both explanations are the same. The animals depicted on these masks are not easy to identify: a feline is recognized by the prominent teeth, sometimes showing detailed canines at both sides. The form of the ears has also been associated with the llama, the most important domestic animal of the Andes. Strangely, the llama is seldom depicted on ‘rape complex’ objects, and if so, it has feline teeth, showing clearly its nonrealistic but symbolic and mythical origin. Certain “sacrificer” representations have been linked with the vampire, also an animal of certain incidence in the carvings of the ‘rape complex’. The uncertainty in identifying the species represented, plus the evidence of the mixing of attributes (feline teeth and llama ears) permit us to consider all these representation as mythical creatures, that while taking certain realistic features from the animal kingdom, surpass them to show a supranatural kingdom.

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See, for example, Llagostera 2004.

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3.2.2 The “Victim” Antarist The “victim” representation, the second character in this iconographic complex, has certain attributes similar to the “sacrificer”. The headdress is the most prominent: he always shows one over his head, and its decoration sometimes resembles that of the “sacrificer” headdress. Many times the special hat appears with two ‘ears’ at the top (see Fig. 8). Hats with this characteristic have been recovered from tombs and show a pair of semicircular ‘ears’ at the top, exactly like the ones depicted on the carvings. This last is also a common representation of a feline attribute in the Andes. Some headdresses, as also some hair styles shows the same ‘double anchor’ symbol depicted on the “sacrificer”. The hair style shows long hair braided in several bands. But, different from the “sacrificer”, the “victim” is never shown wearing clothes, and from certain iconographical features he appears to be naked (a very feasible circumstance for a victim). This is not clearly shown in all carvings, because the normal body position of this character is cowering, with both hands on the knees. This makes him appear in a very sturdy, compact body form, without depiction of bodily details. The hands are firmly holding the knees, no matter whether the personage has an antara or not. Of course, if there is an antara, it is depicted between the two hands, as if being held by them, but a close inspection always shows that the hands are attached to the knees, and the antara floats in front of the mouth. This representation is not a style attribute, as can be seen in several other carvings in which there are personages holding staffs or other objects, in which the hands are clearly depicted as holding the object. Our interpretation of this feature is that the holding of the knees has a prime importance, and that the existence or inexistence of the antara is a lesser detail of the iconographic context. The “victim” is shown as a single personage, or as a pair, or in triple or quadruple groups. As a musician with the antara I know only of single or triple representations. Without the antara, the same personage can be shown in other body positions, such as standing, or as one person embracing another. 3.2.3 The “Custodian” The third personage, the “custodian” is depicted almost always at both sides of the “victim”. While the “victim” (and also the “sacrificer”) is shown always in a front style, the “custodian” is always depicted in a lateral position. His most prominent feature is a mask (or the transformation of the personage) with prominent feline teeth and round ears. His body shows the same seated position as the “vic-

tim”, holding his knees with both hands. Here we can compare the precise depiction of this bodily position, comparing the frontal and lateral depictions, that match in every detail. There are some exceptions to the depicted iconographic group: one is the depiction of a single “custodian”, that we recognize by all the described attributes (see Fig. 9). The other is the attributes of both “custodians” at the sides of the “victim”; they are shown without masks (or transformations), and if so, their body position is the same, but they are not in a lateral position, but in a frontal one.

4 The Ritual The Horta (2010) interpretation of the “sacrificerantarist” iconography advances to a description of the possible sequence of stages of a whole ritual complex. There is, first, a “sacrificer” plus a “victim”, both involved in antara playing, then the “custodians” link the “victim”, and then there is another “presentation theme”, first to be described here, in which the “sacrificer” seems to present the “victim” (one or two) to the sacrifice moment. There is one unique snuff tray, seen by me several years ago in the Commercial Museum in Philadelphia (USA) and which I interpret as a derivation of this “presentation scene”, but with several disturbing attributes. There are two lateral personages with axes (so representing the sacrificer following all our previous argumentation) and a central “antarist victim” one at the center, all three in the habitual seated position. While the central personage has all the attributes of this type of personage, the two “sacrificers” show unique features: their axes are not situated in their hands, as habitual, but hanging from their mouth (without the hand grasping it as well), as habitual for the “antarist victim” representation. Also, they are naked, another “victim” attribute, and clearly show their female sex, a detail that does not appear in all the rest of the studied figures. The strangeness of this iconography, and also the lack of precise studies on it, impede me from attempting an interpretation, make me caution about the implications of the male – female / “custodian” / “sacrificer” relationship, and also permit me to emphasize the little known aspects of this ritual that the iconography can supply. It is evident that the corpus of data collected by the ancient people to be put into the iconography follows strict norms that we cannot known, and thus, that an enormous corpus of data was not included in this iconography, making us cautious about the global interpretation of the same. Neither the sacrifice nor the severed head is shown by itself: the former is never depicted, the

South Andean Iconography of the Antara

second only as an attribute in the hands of the ­“sacrificer”. From ethnographic studies we know the description of a sacrificer priest in Copiapo (just south of our study region) at the time of the first Spanish invaders: He is described as a priest devoted only to this kind of ritual, with long hair and still showing traces of dried blood. Although this kind of information (dealing with “devil” practices for the describer), is to be regarded with caution, it is interesting to know that the priest were dedicated to this ritual, that it existed near the region from where our iconography comes (no other description of a living sacrificer is known from the great region of the southern Andes) and that he was considered a special person in his community.

5 The Links with Present-Day Rituals The other well-known aspect linked with this iconographic complex is the type of instruments. While antaras disappeared from the whole region long ago, there is a tradition of a similar instrument which inherited its organological attributes (type of tube construction, sound production); we call it a ‘pifilca’. As antara, it maintains its central position in rituals, being the most prominent ritual music – making it an element in the whole of the southern Andes. The study of this instrument has permitted us to define a line of investigation for the antara, and one of the conclusions is that to play it, it is necessary to move, to dance, as actual players do with the ‘pifilca’. Comparing the dance of present day musicians with the body positions of the antarist in our study, we can conclude that the latter can be representing different dance positions (see Fig. 10). In fact, there is almost no possibility to play this instrument without considerable body movement, because of the tremendous effort it takes (see Fig. 11). From this evidence, plus other evidence that shows us that every ritual implying flute playing in the Andes means dancing at the same time, it is deduced that the sacrificial ritual implies music and dancing at the same time, by the same musicians. The different parts of the ritual (most probably shown in the studied iconography) are different parts of a whole dance – music and many other physical and communicative aspects

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of the culture, mixed in a single act that the first Europeans described with the Taino word for ceremony, areito.

6 Conclusions Up to this point our interpretation of the iconography shows the deciphering of an unresolved cultural panorama. There are also many unresolved aspects of the same iconographic system. One of them is the representation of the antarist as a single musician, placed in the centre of the iconographic field, clearly defining it as the central position of the whole representation. This is the opposite of the known practice of playing today’s ‘pifilca’, where a pair of musicians always interlock to form a unity of sound. As the ‘pifilca’ is a single tone instrument, it is necessary to play it this way to produce the desired musical continuity. The antara being a four tone instrument, it can be played as a soloist instrument. The other unresolved matters are related to the whole ritual context, the meaning of the antara being in both hands (the “sacrificer’s” and the “victim’s”) and the meaning of the music of the antara in the ritual. Of one thing we can be sure: from today knowledge, we have the certainty that the sound produced by this organological instrument is the most intense heard in the region, and that this intensity (linked with several other factors like the tremendous playing effort, the hyperventilation, and so on) makes it a perfect way to obtain an altered state of consciousness. In the past, this alteration was produced by the ingestion of cebil powder, and the sound of this instrument can produce the intensification of this state of mind to a higher plane, intensified also by the use of masks, the magic transformation of the participants, and, above all, the final stage where the human sacrifice was held and the sacrificer chops off the head of the victim. Such an intense experience is totally out of our reach. We can only guess its tremendous implications over the whole culture, but doing this, we can understand the great success this ritual had over time, expanding from the central Andes to the southern regions in pre-Columbian times, and surviving to the invasion and colonial times through continuous changes, up to our time.

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Bibliography Berenguer, J. 2000  Tiwanaku Señores del Lago Sagrado. Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. Concklin, W. 1997 – 1998  The Individual in Pre-Columbian Archaeology, Textile Museum Journal, 87 – 120. Duran, E. – Kangiser, F. – Acevedo, N. 2000  Expedición a Calama 19212, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural 56, 5 – 49. Horta, H. 2010  Sacrificadores y Victimas. Hacia la definicion de un estilo circumpuneño en el complejo alucinógeno (zona atacameña y noroeste argentino). The Southern Andean Iconographic Tradition. Coedición de Dumbarton Oaks, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Universidad de Chile, State University of New York, Binghamton. Kangiser, F. 2010  Memoria de restauración (ms.) U. Catolica. Llagostera, A. 2004  Los Antiguos Habitantes del Salar de Atacama.

Llagostera, A. – Costa, M. A. 1984  Museo Arqueologico R P Gustavo Le Paige, San Pedro de Atacama. Min. de Educacion, U del norte. Pérez de Arce, J. 1998 Sonido Rajado, the Sacred Sound of Pifilcas, The Galpin Society Journal LI, 17 – 50. 2000  Sonido Rajado II, Historical Approach, The Galpin Society Journal LIII, 233 – 253. 2002  Pre-Columbian Flute Tuning in the Southern Andes, in: E. Hickmann – A. D. Kilmer – R.  Eichmann (eds.), Studien zur Musikarchäologie III, Orient-Archäologie 10, 291 – 309. Torres, C. 1987  The Iconography of South American Snuff Trays and Related Paraphernalia. Götenborg Atnografiska Museum, Sweden. 2009  Art and Iconography from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. PPT Presentation.

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Fig. 1  Geographic area of study. – a. South America. – b. Area of study showing sub-regions where the snuffing paraphernalia of Circumpuneño style have been found (see text, based on Horta 2010, fig. 1). A – the Loa region (Caspana, Chiu Chiu, Chunchurí o Dupont, Toconce, Lasana, Paniri, Caleta Huelén-12, Calama, Chacance); B – the San Pedro de Atacama salar region (Quitor-5, Pucara de Quitor, Solcor-3, Solcor Nueva Población, Tchecar, Sequitor Alambrado); C – Argentinian Puna region (Casabindo, Santa Catalina, Rinconada, Doncellas); D – Quebrada de Humahuaca (La Huerta, Humahuaca, Tilcara, Ciénaga Grande, Los Amarillos, Yacoraite, ­Calilegua, Jujuy); E – Valles Calchaquíes (La Paya, Tolombón, Quilmes).

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Fig. 2  Snuff tray from the Cementerio de los Abuelos de Caspana in the Museo G. Le Paige, San Pedro de Atacama with antara musician iconography showing the upper part with the iconography, placed in a symmetrical way, with the musical instrument representation in the middle, and in a relative bigger scale. In the lower part of the snuff tray is the hollow where the powder is deposited (Photo by the author).

Fig. 3  Illustration of the function of the representation ­during use (Illustration by the author).

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Fig. 4  a. A realistic representation of the antara (Photo by the author). – b. Antara, unknown origin, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago (Photo by the author).

Fig. 5  “Antarist sacrificer” figures holding an instrument in one hand and an axe in the other. Tube from Chunchuri, detail (Museo Nacional de Historia Natural 613, 1999.1.209).

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Fig. 6  The “sacrificer” figure, holding an axe and a ­severed head. Snuff tray, detail (Berenguer 2000, 80).

Fig. 7  The animalized representations of the “sacrificer” showing its mask or transformation. Snuff tray from Catarpe 2, San Pedro de Atacama, detail; pair of “sacrificers” (Llagostera – Costa 1984, fig. 106).

Fig. 8  The “victim” attributes. Three “victims” with hats with two ‘ears’, as a feline reference, snuff tray from Camarones, detail (Horta 2010, fig. 22).

Fig. 9  The “custodian” figure. Two “custodians” facing each other (detail from a Santa María, Catamarca snuff tray in the Museo Etnográfico J. B. Ambrosetti, Buenos Aires, Horta 2010, fig. 31).

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Fig. 10  The ritual. – a. The common sitting position while playing the flutes in the present day “chino” tradition, a brief moment during the dance (Photo by the author). – b. The embraced standing position in the carvings (detail from a spoon from Pucara de Rinconada, Jujuy, Torres 1987, pl. 154). The embracing during the present day ritual is a rare dance movement observed only once in a nocturnal ritual in Los Chacayes. For a video of this type of ritual see (March 12, 2012).

Fig. 11  Claudio Mercado and Francisca Gili playing archeological antaras in La Serena Museum (Photo by the author).