The work of surfaces

This study is an examination of techniques in the Recuay culture (1-700 AD) of ancient Peru. In addition to identifying things that look alike, it reviews different procedures by which they were made to resemble each other. The author examines shared techniques across different media and forms, which helped to shape a general noble aesthetic. Three main points are discussed: first, the techniques share a similar emphasis on enhancing surfaces by conceiving and applying the designs in terms of their negative space or adjacent background. Second, the different technical procedures constructed the exterior worlds of chiefs, their social and physical structures, by saturating special objects and settings with surface elements related to nobility. Finally, it is suggested that the techniques distinguished Recuay value systems from those of neighbouring groups and cultures

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Nobility · Object (grammar · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Computer Science · History · Latin American history and culture · Law · Philosophy · Artificial Intelligence

• Objetos e imagens no Marajó antigo

  Open Access•Emerson Nobre, Emerson Nobre da Silva•2018

  Incluir item

• Different Kinds of Dead

  Open Access•George Lau, George F Lau•Death Rituals, Social Order and…•2015

  Incluir item

• Surface battles

  Open Access•Tim Cole•Journal of Material Culture•2026

  Incluir item

• Enchantment in ancient Peru

  David Chicoine•World Art•2021

  Incluir item

• Mulas, tambos y plata

  Open Access•Noa Corcoran-Tadd•Boletín de Arqueología PUCP•2018

  Incluir item

• Nurturing and Balancing the World

  Open Access•A Troncoso, Felipe Armstrong et al.•Cambridge Archaeological Journal•2020

  Incluir item

• Pins and powders, pots and pendants

  Open Access•George Lau•Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics•2025

  Incluir item

• Techno-aesthetic ceramic traditions and the effective communication of power on the North Coast of Peru

  Cathy Lynne Costin•World Archaeology•2021

  Incluir item

• What eludes speech

  Open Access•R A Joyce•Journal of Social Archaeology•2011

  Incluir item

• Art And Agency

  Alfred Gell•Art and agency•1998

  Incluir item

• Entangled Objects

  Nicholas Thomas•Entangled Objects•1991

  Incluir item

• Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica

  R A Joyce•Gender and Power in Prehispanic…•2001

  Incluir item

• The Technology of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Technology

  Alfred Gell•Anthropology, art, and aesthetics•1992

  Incluir item

• The Incas and Their Ancestors

  Michael E Moseley•The Incas and Their Ancestors•2001

  Incluir item

• The fame of Gawa

  Nancy D Munn•The fame of Gawa•1986

  Incluir item

• The Memory of Bones

  Houston, Stephen Houston et al.•Memory of Bones•2006

  Incluir item

• Technological Choices

  Pierre Lemonnier•Technological Choices•2013

  Incluir item

• Beyond nature and culture

  David Abram•Handbook of Contemporary Animism•2014

  Incluir item

• Outline of a Theory of Practice

  Open Access•Pierre Bourdieu, Richard Nice•On Violence•2007

  Incluir item

• A Functional Analysis of “Horizon Styles” in Peruvian Archaeology

  Open Access•Gordon R Willey•Memoirs of the Society for…•1948

  Incluir item

• The Extirpation of Idolatry in Peru

  Troy S Floyd•Hispanic American Historical Review•1969

  Incluir item

• The Self in Self Decoration

  Open Access•M Strathern•Oceania•1979

  Incluir item

• La especialización del trabajo

  Open Access•Santiago Uceda, Carlos Rengifo Chunga et al.•Bulletin de l’Institut français…•2006

  Incluir item

• Craft Production, Exchange, and Political Power in the Pre-Incaic Andes

  Open Access•Kevin J Vaughn•Journal of Archaeological Research•2006

  Incluir item

• Guitarrero cave

  Open Access•Karl W Butzer•Journal of Archaeological Science•1981

  Incluir item

• Andean Tapestry

  Amy Oakland Rodman, Vicki Cassman•Art Journal•1995

  Incluir item

• The World Upside Down

  Susan Elizabeth Ramírez•The World Upside Down•1996

  Incluir item

• The Social Life of Numbers

  J Rappaport•Ethnohistory•2002

  Incluir item

• Beyond Skin

  Open Access•Carl Knappett, Knappett Carl•Cambridge Archaeological Journal•2006

  Incluir item

• The Embodied Sacrifice

  Open Access•E Hill•Cambridge Archaeological Journal•2000

  Incluir item

• What Do Objects Want

  Open Access•C Gosden•Journal of Archaeological Method…•2005

  Incluir item

• Par-delà nature et culture

  P Descola•Par-delà nature et culture•2015

  Incluir item

• A New Perspective on Indian-White Contact

  Christopher L Miller, George R Hamell•Journal of American History•1986

  Incluir item

• Feasting and Ancestor Veneration at Chinchawas, North Highlands of Ancash, Peru

  Open Access•George Lau, George F Lau•Latin American Antiquity•2002

  Incluir item

• Andean Value Systems and the Development of Prehistoric Metallurgy

  Heather Lechtman•Technology and Culture•1984

  Incluir item

• Feasting with Cannibals

  Wayne Suttles, Stanley Walen et al.•The American Indian Quarterly•1984

  Incluir item

• Inca Architecture and Construction at Ollantaytambo

  Tom F Peters, Tom Peters et al.•Technology and Culture•1996

  Incluir item

• The Aesthetics of Action

  Marion Kilson, Kris L Hardin•The Journal of Interdisciplinary…•1995

  Incluir item

• Biographies of brilliance

  Nicholas J Saunders•World Archaeology•1999

  Incluir item

• Core-periphery relations in the Recuay hinterlands

  Open Access•George Lau, George F Lau•Antiquity•2005

  Incluir item

• Curacas y encomenderos

  Brooke Larson, Rafael Varón Gabai•Hispanic American Historical Review•1982

  Incluir item

• Religion and Power in the Andes

  Luis Millones•Ethnohistory•1979

  Incluir item

• From the Enemy's Point of View

  Eduardo Batalha Viveiros De Castro, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro et al.•From the enemy's point of view•1992

  Incluir item

• The Aesthetics of Action

  Open Access•Joan Lee-Ferdinand, George J Sefa Dei et al.•Canadian Journal of African…•1995

  Incluir item

• Wrapping in Images

  C Toren, A F Gell et al.•Journal of the Royal Anthropologica…•1997

  Incluir item

• Structural Patterning in Kwakiutl Art and Ritual

  Abraham Rosman, Paula G Rubel•Man•1990

  Incluir item

• Piro Designs

  P Gow•Journal of the Royal Anthropologica…•1999

  Incluir item

• Cultural Landscapes in the Ancient Andes

  Open Access•Gordon Mewan•American Anthropologist•2006

  Incluir item

• Moche Sex Pots

  Open Access•Mary Weismantel•American Anthropologist•2004

  Incluir item

• Structural Aspects of a Village Art1

  Open Access•Marie Jeanne Adams•American Anthropologist•1973

  Incluir item

• Earth, sky, wind, and weather

  Open Access•T Ingold•Journal of the Royal Anthropologica…•2007

  Incluir item

• Wrapping in Images

  Alfred Gell•Wrapping in images•1993

  Incluir item

• Semiotics and the social analysis of material things

  Open Access•W Keane•Language & Communication•2003

  Incluir item