A Paracas Bowl: Part I

A Paracas Bowl

Photo Credit: The Metropolitan Museum

Clifford C. Richey January 2015

It would be helpful to refer to: http://www.scribd.com/doc/12507641.5/ Universal-Prehistoric-Depicted-SignLanguage when reading this paper. It explains the use of Form, Imagery, Gesture Signs, Stance, allusion. and position among other compositional rules used in the creation of many ancient compositions.

Illustration 1: Original Paracas Bowl

Illustration 2: Recolored Version

This Bowl from the Paracas culture in Peru (900 BC– 400 AD) has been recolored or cleaned up a bit so that the various signs can be seen more clearly. The middle of the Bowl has a raised up portion that is off center. The reason for this is that if water was placed in the Bowl the Face, his appearance, as a (white color indicates spirit) spirit would be comparable to it being on the hillside. The Eyes of the spirit are composed of concentric Circles indicating the levels of depth with the dark center circle representing of the holes. These signs are positioned to the Left and Right or the east and the west (in gesture signing the Left hand indicates the east and all the cardinal directions are follow from there. The hole signs allude to the position where the eyes would normally be found. The Eye(s) also represent the Eye of the Sun or Venus as Venus arises before the Sun in the east acting like its Eye or Scout. In many ancient cultures Venus was the destination of warriors and warrior-priests in their afterlife. There were many metaphors used in relation to Venus in ancient cultures. Aside from the Eye of the Sun, Venus was referred to as the Wolf-star1 (an association made with a Spy-star or a Scout-star based on the fact that a wolf stands up in tall grass to better see its prey), the Great-star partly based on its being one of the brightest stars in the night sky. The Maya2 used the metaphor of the Wasp-star based on the association of wasps acting like warriors defending their area as warriors defend their community, thus meaning the Warrior-star or Defender-star. From the “U”, turning, shaped Mouth (at the water-source or spring) of the spirit its Double Lines indicating, unseen, emerges as a Serpent, a stream of water. This stream 1 2

https://www.academia.edu/7926738/A_Nazca_Female_Vessel https://www.scribd.com/doc/57056650/Xux-Ek-the-Mayan-Wasp-Star

of water moves down the hillside into the water in the bowl. The Lower Half of the composition represents the watery underworld.

Illustration 3: Recolored Version

The (dark-green)Tail of the Serpent is in the Form of the Triangular sign for the Femaleearth. The Curved area of the “U” Forms a Curved sign on the surface of the earth that indicated, held as in a bowl. The Body, viewed as a vessel or container, of the Serpent is “U” shaped indicating, a turning, and its Stance is, heading upwards, terminates in the Form (green) of a Water-drop or a particle of water. Positionally, within it, are two (white, spirits) Eyes. The Eye of the Sun, Venus, in the east and west. The Three Lined Body (The Double Lines indicating unseen or hidden while the Center Line indicates a pathway) of the Serpent means, an unseen-pathway. The Mouth of the Serpent, the water-source is in the Form of the Pi shaped sign for, a doorway or a portal. In front of thr Portal sign is a Circle with a dark center that indicates, a hole. This message tells us that the Bowl is a model of the landscape as perceived through the terms of the somewhat hydraulic cosmology. It is noteworthy that the (green) sign for a mountainhalf or mountain-side was positioned next to the Serpent.

Illustration 5: Use of Space

Illustration 4: Circle with Dark Center

While looking at the mountainside sign we can see a (golden) Form of an Leg and Foot where the underside of the upper Leg has the Saw-toothed sign for water on it. The long-watery, walk, over the hillside. created by the Space around it. This kind of use of Space was rather common in ancient depictions but exactly how Space was supposed to

be read is not yet clear. In any event the above reading seems to work.

Illustration 6: The Use of Space

There is also a (light-green) Serpent's Head on the side of the Bowl that has the Serpent Form and Imagery. This would read, Her Face, her appearance, (the Serpent is female because she is within the domain of the female-earth) the Eye of the Sun, Venus, positionally, within, the Mouth, the water-source, the spring. Although we do not know at what level we should begin reading the Form of any Space in such glyphs it seems to work if we read the Space accompanied by the signs nearest to the Space. We will now look at the (dark green) Figure or Body of the spirit. The Body is Upsidedown indicating that it is dead. The dead one. The spirit's Right (in the west) Arm, the warrior, and Hand, the steward of the Sun, is Grasping a Head by its Hair, this is the sign for, the chieftain or the leader. The small (white, spirit) Head also has a Face, his appearance, the spirit, The (dark-red) Ears are Triangular meaning, the Female-earth. The Ear alludes to, a hole on the side, and the spirit is between the sides of the earth or at the center of the earth. The Mouth of the spirit, meaning a water-source, has the Eyes positioned, below, where there are two dark Horizontal rectangles or horizontalplaces-of-darkness, Left and Right, in the east and the west. The (dark) Hair, indicating a growth or a development is in the Form of the sign for, descending in the darkness. The Fingers on the Hand has a Count of Three that is a form of shorthand for, the many. The (white, spirit) Fingers are positioned serially as, spirit-levels. The Figure's Left Hand has the same meaning minus the sign for a Chieftain. The Deceased Chieftain's Body Forms the Quarter Circle sign for a side. The Figure's Legs/Feet are positioned as on the side and mean, the long walk or journey. Along the arc of the Quarter Circle is a (tan) Long Leg and Foot that means, the long, walk, on the side of. The Foot is connected to the (dark) Triangular, female-earth sign.

Illustration 7: The Use Of Space

Again, in this Upper-Half quadrant (the eastern, upper-world) of the composition, we find Space used to emphasize meaning. The deceased chieftain has, to the left of the Figure what may be the crude (tan) Form of a Face, his appearance, the Stance is looking westward. The associations made with the west were, sunset, darkness, and death. The Space on the right side of the (gold tone) Figure is that of a Large Tumi Knife that represents, a great ray of the Sun –a great warrior.

Illustration 8: Topographic View Of Bowl

Illustration 9: Exterior Of The Vessel

On the outside of the (red and within the Double Lines) indicating, the unseen-place of rising sun and rebirth)Bowl, the earthen bowl or container, is the depiction of a Feline (between Double Lines indicating, unseen,) that represents, the Nighttime Sun, positionally, in the underworld (the exterior Form of the Bowl is in the Form of the Quarter Circle positioned as, the under-side). The Tail is the “Shepherd's Staff” sign for, taken upwards, while the Body is in the Form of a Water-drop, a particle of water. The Feet represent, the walk or the journey and the “U” shaped, turning, positionally, below. The Head of the Feline (probably a Jaguar), The Heart Shaped Face is the gesture sign for the captive one, his appearance. The Ears Form the “V” shaped sign for at the, opening and also alludes to the orifices or the holes on the Left and Right, the east and the west. The signs for the hills allude to the position of the Eye(s), the Eye of the Sun, Venus also in the east and the west. The Nose alludes to the Nostrils as, the dual holes, and are the Double Lined sign for, unseen, while, positionally, below, is the Mouth, the water-source. The above alerts us to the fact that the ancient cultures were fully aware of the water cycle and the part the Sun played in evaporation. Of course it was the Daytime Sun, the Eagle,that brought up the waterparticles to the sky and the stars. A Moche ceramic demonstrates this by the depiction of a Eagle devouring or drinking up the Eye of a captive tied to a wooden post.

Illustration 10: The Eagle, The Daytime Sun Drinks Up The Eye

The Moche Bowl is also a rattle bowl. It was based on a sound association (the sound of the seeds rattling within the vessel) that related to a metaphor that the earthen-container, the Female-earth, held the seeds that sprouted or sprang into life when moistened by the subterranean waters of the earth.