Tiwanaku Snake-Belt God and the Iconography of Liquids

A Bone Tube at the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin

Abstract

A bone tube of the Tiwanaku culture in the South American collections of the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin is one of the rarest of its kind. This article analyzes its iconography and explores the relationship between the graphic message and the object’s original function. I argue that the depiction on the tube represents not only the commonly known character called the Sacrificer or Upturned-Nose Decapitator but also the Tiwanaku counterpart of the Moche Snake-belt God, who participates in such a wide range of activities that he appears to play a central role in a major epic story. Despite his role in themes connected to decapitation and primordial places, he is a character associated with the iconography of liquids. I will define the graphic repertory of liquids and raise the question how it fits with the fact that the bone tube originally contained fine-grained cinnabar.