Cleveland Museum of Art

Feline Mortar

Date

700–1 BCE

Medium

stone, pigment

Culture

Peru, North Highlands, Pacopampa(?), Chavín style (900-200 BCE)

Department

Art of the Americas

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Size suggests that this Chavín-style mortar was not used to grind bulky staples like corn, but instead pigments or plant hallucinogens used in religious rites to achieve spiritual insight and communion with cosmic forces. This may come from Pacopampa, a site in the northern highlands where elites adopted Chavín deities and worshiped them alongside local deities. These small sculptures illustrate the appeal and the spread of Chavín religion.

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