CLOTHES OF POWER. COMPARING TEXTILES AND ROCK ART OF NORTHWESTERN ARGENTINA (13TH TO 15TH CENTURIES)

In this paper we suggest that a particular assemblage of visual attributes observed in a number of specific types of anthropomorphic rock-art depictions of the last moments of Regional Developments Period (RDP) in NW Argentina, could be related to the conformation of a visual language of power. This could be associated to: a) the emergence and consolidation of different groups and/or communities with specific territorial and identity claims during RDP, and b) during the Inca Period, with a state intervention strategy to appropriate and resignify existing local icons in order to establish a new power and/or explicitness of new alliances. To this end we carried out a comparative and systematic study that included the analysis of RDP rock art record and textiles recovered in NW and Central Argentina. In addition we examined representative and synchronous technical aspects, both understood as indivisible parts of the whole.