---
node: sa_paracas_textiles
type: art
slug: paracas_textiles
title: "Paracas textiles"
lead: "Paracas textiles are elaborately embroidered mantles made by the Paracas culture on the south coast of Peru, roughly 300 BC to AD 200. They are among the finest textiles of the ancient world."
published: 2026-07-13
updated: 2026-07-13
image_file: paracas_textiles.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paracas_mantle,_BM.jpg"
image_author: "Brooklyn Museum"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Overview

The textiles were woven from cotton and camelid fiber and densely embroidered in brilliant colors. Most survive as burial wrappings around mummy bundles in the dry desert of the Paracas peninsula.

## Description

Their surfaces teem with repeated figures — flying shamans, birds, fish, and composite beings — in vivid polychrome embroidery. The technical skill and range of colors are extraordinary for their age.

## History and legacy

The Paracas mantles reveal the wealth, beliefs, and artistry of a coastal Andean society. Their tradition fed into the later Nazca culture, and they are prized treasures of Andean art.