Mantles, the rectangular wrapping cloths found on two-thousand-year-old funerary bundles from the south coast, are impressive demonstrations of the ancient Peruvian arts of needle and loom. Often bordered or intricately patterned, they carry a detailed expression of ancient imagery in large figures or a full range of symmetrical and color patterns in repeated small figures. They are made in the natural hues of cotton or camelid fiber (wool) or dyed in a range of strong colors. Red, the color of blood is the most conspicuous of the applied colors, a seemingly appropriate choice for decorated cloth accompanying the burials.

The mantles and related textiles in this books represent works encountered at two major, but quite different, archaeological sites: Ocucaje in the lower Ica Valley and the Necropolis of Wari Kayan (also known as the Paracas Necropolis) on the Paracas Peninsula. The fabrics span a five-century period, with the earlier, more varied mantles reflecting styles from the Ocucaje and the later, embroidered mantles reflecting those of the Wari Kayan Necropolis. [This book was originally published in 1995 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]