Ancient burial grounds in Peru have yielded up dazzling goldwork, fine ceramic vessels, and some of the world’s richest textiles. This lecture will look at the achievements of Peru's many civilisations. The Incas rose to power after AD 1200 and established a vast empire. Yet they were the last in a long line of cultures. Weavers and embroiderers at Paracas produced sumptuous garments, preserved by the desert for over 2,000 years, which display embroidered designs that include mythological creatures, animals and geometric patterning. The Moche and the Chimú were great gold-workers. The royal tombs of Sipán, excavated in the 1980s, hid spectacular gold and silver treasures and ceremonial artifacts dating back to AD 50–300.

Today, nearly 500 years after the Spanish Conquest, textiles remain central to life in Peru. In rural areas, traditional clothing is still worn by the Aymara and the Quechua. Men and women clothe themselves and their families with astonishing virtuosity, and no festival is complete without an abundance of fine textiles. This lecture will be accompanied by a display of recent Peruvian weavings.

Apart from the pear tree in which sat the partridge, there are no plants in the 12 days of Christmas according to the folk song. Sadly, even that reference is erroneous, because partridges are ground-dwelling birds. And yet at Christmas we are surrounded by plants. 

This talk puts the record straight and rewrites the zoocentric song replacing partridges with poinsettias and maids with mistletoe.