6 pm reception
6:30 pm lecture

Between AD 600 and 1000, the Wari people of ancient Peru forged a society so complex that many regard it as South America’s first empire. Because the Wari did not use writing, our understanding of their accomplishments is based on analyses of their material culture, including a corpus of artistically complex tapestry-woven tunics that were the raiment of Wari rulers and other elites. In this lecture, Susan Bergh will examine two groups of tunics to reveal what they suggest about the singular nature of Wari rulership. The program will conclude with a response from exhibition curator Nicola Sharratt.

Susan Bergh is curator of Pre-Columbian and Native North American Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art. She organized the recent exhibition Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes.

Nicola Sharratt, curator of the exhibition Carrying Coca: 1500 Years of Andean Chuspas, is an archaeologist and BGC-AMNH postdoctoral fellow in museum anthropology.