Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

Cultures > Center > Aconcagua

Art

In terms of craftwork, the Aconcagua culture is best known for its ceramics. The most common type were the brown, undecorated smooth-sided pots and pitchers produced for daily use, while more elaborate pieces with black designs painted on the an orange clay surface were more noteworthy. Decoration almost always consisted of linear designs—geometric, zigzag, straight line, “triangle with pestañas” and especially the very characteristic trinacrio motifs. These ceramic vessels were mainly escudillas, bowls with designs painted on the exterior surface. The Aconcagua people were master craftsmen, also manufacturing flutes and insignias of authority called clavas.