#effigy

The figure was crafted by shaping a cotton core into the basic form of a snake, wrapping it in structural cords, and then using colorful thread to create patterns and details along the surface. A zig-zag design covers most of the snake's body, and its facial features are decorated with embroidery.

A double-braided rope extends from the distal end of the snake's body, near the tip of its tail, and another rope is attached along the ventral side, forming a small loop just behind the snake's lower jaw. Similar features have also been found on several other fiber-craft snakes from the same time period/region, suggesting that the figures may have been designed for a common purpose. Very little is known about the original function and significance of these artifacts, however.

The figures may have been created as toys, ceremonial props, costume elements, decorative pieces, gifts, grave goods, or simply as pieces of artwork.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art argues that they were likely used as props during an Andean tradition known as ayllar:

In a ritual combat known as ayllar, snakes made of wool were used as projectiles. This effigy snake may have been worn around the neck—a powerful personal adornment of the paramount Inca and his allies—until it was needed as a weapon. The wearer would then grab the cord, swing the snake, and hurl it in the direction of the opponent. The heavy head would propel the figure forward. The simultaneous release of many would produce a scenario of “flying snakes” thrown at enemies.

The same tradition is described in an account from a Spanish chronicler named Cristóbal de Albornoz, who referred to it as "El juego de los ayllus y el Amaru," meaning "the game of the ayllus and the Amaru."

The image below shows another fiber-art snake that was made in the Incan Empire during the 1300-1550s CE. This figure has several remarkably similar features, leading some experts to argue that it may have been used as part of the same tradition.

Why Indigenous Artifacts Should be Returned to Indigenous Communities.

Sources & More Info:

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Snake Ornament

Serpent Symbology: Representations of Snakes in Art

Journal de la Société des Américanistes: El Juego de los ayllus y el Amaru

"Pure wax boys' heads with human hair, eyebrows and glass eyes." Illustrated catalogue and price-list of display fixtures and forms. 1893.

Dog Effigy Figures

Colima, West Mexico, c. 400 BCE - 1200 CE

L: Hollow ceramic dog figure, likely representing Xoloitzcuintli (90.143)

R: Hollow ceramic Xoloitzcuintli figurine (91.156)

“These dogs were raised to be eaten, although many people of Mexico believed that a dog accompanied a person's soul on the journey into the underworld.”

On display at Santa Rosa Junior College Multicultural Museum (CA, USA)