An Ica Textile

By

Clifford C. Richey

September 2009
 Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel
Leyend: Ica Manto Paracas
Museo de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia,
Lima Perú
Illustration 1: Ica Textile

This textile's gesture signs and imagery is on a black background which indicates that the subject is
surrounded in darkness. The Figure's Stance is one of bending over and is the Form for ascending.
There is the possibility that the bent form of the figure may be using a staff or cane which is the sign
for old age. Thus the scene or topic could have been one of the sad old warrior. The next largest Form
or level is that of a Face that is difficult to see because it is almost all form. It is composed of two
square red eyes, yellow eyebrows and a large red mouth. This Face Form means, His Face, his
appearance. Next we see the yellow Fish Head with a large black Eye. with a red, yellow, and blue
curved lines as a Tail Fin. The black area behind the Fish Head is in the Form of a Long curving Leg
and a Foot that shapes the Fish Head. The long-dark-journey. The Fish imagery is the sign for a
swimmer. The Headband (yellow) above the figure's Face is in the form of a Bird, indicating flight.
The Long Hair is blue in color (indicating water) and is made up of several lines. The Hair is the sign
for a cleansing or purification and the Lines represent a flowing. Flowing water.
 Illustration 2: Ica Textile

The One Ascending

The Old, Sad Warrior

The Legs and Feet representing the word long. The Legs are vertical-place signs with blue place signs
below them indicating water below. The Feet are Eagle claws and represent the Hands of the Sun, the
stewards of the Sun. The Eagle represented the Great Hunter of the Daytime while the Imagery of a
Jaguar represented the Great Hunter of the Nighttime. So this composition is related to the rising Sun
and an Eagle Warrior. The First Claw Forms the sign for taken -downward while the following three
Claws Form the signs for, the many(3)-below.

We will now take a look at the Arms and Hands of the warrior. By their Stance (position) we note that
they indicate above and below or the upper-world and the under-world. The Lower hand has a spirit
sign on it and it is holding a Tumi-knife. The red color above it is the sign for blood as this sign is made
from using the fingers from both hands making lines below the Nose (this sign probably is based the
imagery of a bloody nose). In this case the sign is upside down as the Tumi knife could be perceived as
an upside down Nose with the lines of blood streaming from it. The Upper Hand's spirit sign (Mouth,
place sign) is light indicating the surface and above while the Lower Hand's spirit face has a dark-
place sign for a mouth. This reinforces the positions of the Hands.

The Upper Hand also has a spirit sign on it. The Hand is in the Form of the sign for, held-as-in-a-bowl.
The Hand holds a Severed Head which is colored blue for water. The Face of the Head, he appears in
the Form of a male-spirit. The Eyes are the signs for holes in the surface of the earth. The red (for
resurrection) Mouth is the sign for a water-source or a spring. The Hair, brown, is the sign for flowing
and pure or clean (purified or cleansed). The Hair on the upper portion of the Head has many signs for
ascending. The Ears on the side of the Face are in the Form of Legs and Feet, the journeys on the sides
(of the earth). Also, the overall Form Hair is in the shape of a Bird for, flight.

Above the Figure's hair (blue) is a Phallic Form indicating male. It was composed from a, brown, place
sign and a red above-female-earth sign. Indirectly this indicates the male-sky above.

Below the Lower Hand are two compound signs. These signs are made from a blue line indicating the
surface of the water, a brown slanted sign meaning on and then a blue Circular location sign followed
bay another slanting ( Stance -side) brown sign meaning, above on the side. This is followed by a large
brown ascending sign. Next we have two red male-spirit signs. The male spirit signs are all connected
by surface-side signs and the circular location sign at the bottom. The Form of the red signs is one of
arising and being red indicate re-birth or resurrection. These red sign terminate at the upper end with
three more signs. The number three is shorthand for the word, many. The middle sign is a vertical-place
sign while the outer two signs indicate houses or domains. These signs are directly under the Fingers of
the Lower Hand indicating four (4) places stacked as levels (the Index Finger represents the earth's
surface).

Finally we have the signs directly under the Fish Head. These are dual signs being stylized Hands
pointing upward and upward. They are also the signs for hillsides or mountainsides. Below are larger
signs the first one, on the left, being a Leg and Foot (brown) meaning as stated previously, a long
journey. This is followed by four vertical-place signs. The number four representing the four directions
and in this case may provide us with a hint of the color code used for the directions. But they just might
identify the vertical places by color. In any event, the meaning of the four directions is one of, in all
directions or everywhere. Below these signs are four male-spirit signs –male-spirits-everywhere.

There appear to be smaller signs within other signs in this composition but they are too small to be
discerned clearly. It is doubtful that any of these signs would change the major aspects of the theme.

Illustration 3: His
Face, His Appearance
His Face, His Appearance
His Sad Face
(expression of mouth)
Surrounded by Darkness
The Tumi-Knife, The Ray Of The Sun

The Locations Of The Openings

 (the earplugs)
(eight openings, the reason for this count is unknown)
Here
(fingers pointing downward to the mouth/hillside signs)
At
The Houses
(domains)
Of Rebirth

The Great Mouth,

The Great Spring
The Great Hill
Its
Many Places
Of Rebirth

Illustration 4: The Legs

and Feet
The Long Journeys
Of
The Hands of the Eagle
The Warriors of the Sun
Taken Down
(initial claw is the sign for taken-downward)
Below
The Many
(three remaining claws meaning many)

The Vertical Places,

The Deep Places

The Places Of Water

 Illustration 5: The Bird
The Bird,
The One Who Flies
His face,
His Appearance
As
Male-Spirit

The Turning Place

The surface-place sign with rounded sides)
The Opening
(formed by the “V” of the chin)
The Opening Place
(compound of the “V” of the end of the tail and the place sign of the tail)
Taken Downward
On
A Journey
(compound of taken-downward sign and foot sign)
The Dark-Place
The Houses
Of
Rebirth
(the eyes and nose)

Illustration 6: The
Fish
Here
(form of hand with index finger pointing a direction)
His Face, His Appearance
The Hand, The Steward

His Eye, The Eye Of The Sun

(the fish's eye)
(in)
The Deep-Dark-Hole
(the black circle )
The Fish,
The Swimmer
 His
Long Dark
Journey
(The black outline of a curved leg and foot behind the head)
Four Movement,
Moving Everywhere
(motion signs plus the number for the four directions meaning, everywhere)
The Many Journeys
(the three colored legs meaning, many)
(possible color code related to direction)

Illustration 7:
The Hand
Pointing
Here In The
Flowing Water
(the index of the hand pointing toward the multiple lines that are the sign for flow or flowing)
(the flow is color coded blue for water)

Illustration 8: The Lower

Hand
Below
(relative position to upper arm and hand)
The Many Journeys
Of
The Arm, The Hand
The Warrior, The Steward
(of the Sun)
His Spirit
in
The Deep-Dark Place
The Houses
The Levels
Everywhere
(number 4 -everywhere)
 Illustration 9: The Upper
Hand
Above
(relative position to lower arm and hand)
The Arm, The Hand
Taken Upward
(taken upward sign on left side of hand which makes the hand appear deformed)
A Surface Place
The Houses
(domains of the earth)
The Warrior, The Steward
His Face, His Appearance
His Male-Spirit
Held
As In A Bowl
Of
Water
(blue color code for water)
On the Sides
(of the earth)
The Long Journeys
The Ascending Flights
(Hair in the form of a bird's head and wings. Note the eye and beak on left)
 Illustration 10:
The Hand Holding
The knife
The Hand That Holds The Knife,
The Steward of the Sun
Who Holds The Knife

The Source
Of
The Spreading Blood
(The Tumi knife viewed as an upside down nose coupled with the gesture sign for blood made from lines emanating
from the nose)
(the color red along with motion signs for spreading)
(dual imagery and meaning)

The Hand, The Knife

On
The Surface
(upper line of hand represents the ground's surface)
of
The Hillside
The Many Places
Of
Rebirth
(Form of a hill with the knife on its side and place signs inside the hill. Red color indicating rebirth)
 Illustration 11: The
Staff or Cane
(The figure appears to be carrying or using a staff or cane in his hand)
(The cane combined with the Figure's bent over stance would seem to indicate age)
(As discussed above this could have been the sign for old age)
(At this level of interpretation we will just used the available signs which are cosmological and metaphorical)
(We will continue below the hand as we have already covered the hand above)
The Vertical Place
Of
The Houses
(domains of the earth-female
On The Sides

The Male Spirits

On
the Sides
(The two such signs)
Their Location
(circular sign)
Below
(stance)

The Locations
of
The Ascensions
 Above And Below
The Hillsides
(stylized hand forms with index fingers pointing a direction, up and down)
(dual use as the imagery also means hill or mountainsides)
The Journey
The Deep Vertical Places
Everywhere
(the place signs number four, everywhere or all-over)
The Male-Spirits
Everywhere
Below
(the spirit signs number four: everywhere or all-over)
(a possible color code: black, red, blue, and white)
(possible meaning: below in the darkness, rebirth, water, and the earth's surface)
(the mouths are place signs and the eyes are on either side)

Assuredly there have been mistakes or mis-perceptions in making this translation but there can be little doubt about
the general cosmological and metaphorical meaning to be found in the signs and imagery. We have tried to translate
this textile's message in the usual manner starting with Form through Imagery and then Basic gesture signs from
which much imagery was composed. However, the system was quite fluid and these levels, at times, seem to merge
with one another. For example a Form may have been based on an Image or a gesture sign and vice versa. The system
was non-linear and therefore it is difficult at times to know were to begin or end some passages. All the signs used in
this translation have been found in many of the other various cultures of the Native American. The signs remain
consistent from one translation to the other. The general cosmological message is surprisingly similar from one
culture to another and may have been spread and solidified through the use of sign language itself. It appears that
many cultures held their warriors in high esteem or at least those in authority maintained a cosmology that placed the
warrior and warrior-priests at a high level within the cultures.

The use of sign language in written form appears to have been all encompassing and was at once an art form as well
as a communicational system. In terms of the cosmology almost everything the culture did was transformed into a
cosmological message. Utilitarian as well as non-utilitarian objects, burials vaults in the shape of vessels dug into the
ground. The layout of the grave goods and even the bodies were careful arranged so as to present a message related to
the cosmology. Aqueducts and wells appear to have been based in the signs and therefore served a dual function that
combined ritual with function. As we gain a greater understanding about how the compositional system functioned
we may be able to learn more about the various Native American cultures as well as their mind set. One needs to
wonder about the psychological implications of a system that enveloped the individual in a world view through which
all reality was filtered and understood. Gesture Signs, Form, and Imagery appeared everywhere both by nature's hand
and through human design. The combination of the two continually reinforced the other to strengthen a particular
world view.