HUGO IKEHARA-TSUKAYAMA: Pottery became an object that carried meanings and ideas. In many ways, ceramic containers became the ideal canvas for displaying images and pottery became a ritual object and finally a political tool to spread ideas or showcase authority and power. My name is Hugo Ikehara-Tsukayama. I’m a senior research associate for ancient American art.

JOSÉ MARÍA YAZPIK (NARRATOR): This bottle, made around 3,000 years ago on Peru’s north coast, has a characteristic stirrup-shaped spout. This vessel shows a contrast between shiny polished surfaces and areas patterned to resemble the spiky exterior of the shell of a Spondylus—a marine bivalve mollusk.

HUGO IKEHARA-TSUKAYAMA: The Spondylus was highly appreciated because its vibrant red color and as a ritual substance offered to ancestors and other divinized beings. In the 16th century it was considered the preferred food for the deities.

The Spondylus shell only grows in the warm waters of Ecuador to the north. So, to have a Spondylus 400 or 500 kilometers to the south implies there was a movement of these goods between communities.

JOSÉ MARÍA YAZPIK: Andeans brought large quantities and varieties of vessels to community celebrations or festivals, sometimes involving hundreds of guests.

HUGO IKEHARA-TSUKAYAMA: Maybe the organizers are demonstrating their ability as leaders because they can mobilize people under social networks to bring different kind of pot, bottles, bowls from close and from afar. You do that every single time you do these parties.

JOSÉ MARÍA YAZPIK: Archaeologists have unearthed assemblages of shattered pottery, the remnants of these celebrations. Leaders ceremonially destroyed the vessels at the close of gatherings—as a display of their power and authority—enabling and requiring new cycles of creation and giving. The destruction of these artworks prompted a demand for new vessels and instigated more artistic invention and innovation.