文档介绍：Earth, Water, Fleece and Fabric
Through a richly detailed examination of the practices of spinning yarn from
the fleece of llamas and alpacas, Earth, Water, Fleece and Fabric explores the rela-
tionships that herders of the present and of the past have maintained with their
herd animals in the Andes. Dransart juxtaposes an ethnography of an Aymara
munity, based on more than ten years’ fieldwork in Isluga in the
Chilean highlands, with archaeological material from excavations in the Atacama
desert. Relevant historical evidence is adduced.
This work investigates the material culture of munities at the
transition from a hunting and gathering way of life over three thousand years
ago, its relationship with domestic processes, and how spinning and weaving in
contemporary Isluga express the values of a herding way of life. These values are
intimately related to the perceived importance of the landscape, with its resources
of earth and water, in the transformation of pasture into fleece. ably
researched, this book is the first systematic study to set the material culture of
munities against an understanding of the long-term effects of herding
practices. It offers original insights into understanding gender relations among the
herders, who establish the working relationships with their animals that enable
them to produce yarns and fabrics, while also adopting a dynamic perspective on
studying technical changes that have occurred in textile production in the Andes.
Penelope Z. Dransart is Chair of the Department of Archaeology at the
University of Wales, Lampeter. Previous publications include Elemental Meanings:
Symbolic Expressions in Inka Miniature Figures (1995) and Andean Art: Visual
Expression and its Relation to Andean Beliefs and Values (1995).
Earth, Water, Fleece
and Fabric
An ethnography and archaeology
of Andean camelid herding
Penelope Z. Dransart
London and New York
First published 2002
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, Londo