Chimu-Inca Civilization
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of Chimu-Inca ceramic vessels from the north coast of Peru. These date from 1470 to 1550. This collection comprises pottery, which can be divided into two major categories of Inca ceramics – Cuzco Inca vessels, which were painted and burnished, and Provincial Inca ceramics, which were black burnished. One of the most distinctive Inca ceramic forms, developed in the Cuzco area, is the so-called Cuzco bottle, also known as an ‘aryballo’. Aryballos have big globular chambers, pointed bases and tall necks with flared rims. The larger examples were used for the production, storage and transportation of fermented corn beer and other foods. On the shoulder of the chamber is usually a central lug, often in the shape of a stylized animal head. Chimu potters mass-produced mould-made reproductions of these hand-made Cuzco Inca aryballos, and flared rims become a characteristic feature of all Chimu-Inca pottery. The Incas established the largest empire ever known in South America. At its greatest extent the Inca Empire stretched north to Ecuador and south to Chile. Its capital was Cuzco in the highlands.
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