Chile San Pedro de Atacama Wood Mixing Bowl

Pre-Columbian, Northern Chile, San Pedro de Atacama, ca. 1000 to 500 BCE. A rare, well-preserved mixing bowl for grinding up powder associated with shamanic drug use. On one side of the bowl is a seated figure holding what looks like a long palm leaf. The figure and the bowl are brightly painted with mineral pigments - orange, yellow, and, on the back of the head, a few remaining bright blue stripes. Size: 3.5" W x 2.5" H (8.9 cm x 6.4 cm)

This item represents the drug paraphernalia employed by many people in the Atacama Desert region of ancient Chile. They had many beautiful items related to the preparation and inhalation of snuff, both for healing purposes and shamanic rituals. They often placed these items in the graves of high status individuals. The San Pedro de Atacama area is particularly well known for these types of artifacts, which are often iconography fascinating, using human and animal figures to convey meaning in a way that is mysterious to us now, but would have been instantly understood by the people who made them.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Westermann collection, Germany

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#123559
Condition Report: Loss to front of bowl as shown, lower part repaired. Wear on surface commensurate with that of a wooden artifact of this age, with a great deal of original pigment remaining.