Camille Breeze to Speak about the Ancient Peruvian Textiles Workshop at the Northeast Conference on Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory

The 30th Annual Northeast Conference on Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory will take place October 15-16, 2011 at the R.S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology in Andover.

Andover, Mass. – Camille Breeze, Director and Chief Conservator at Museum Textile Services, will be speaking at the 30th Annual Northeast Conference on Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory. The conference will be held at the R.S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology in Andover, Massachusetts, October 14-16, 2011.

On Saturday, October 15, Camille will share her experiences as Director of the Ancient Peruvian Textiles Workshop. Camille established the Ancient Peruvian Textiles Workshop in collaboration with Rommel Angles Falcon, Director of the Municipal Museum of Huaca Malena, in 2004. The need for the project was first documented by Rommel. In 2008, Camille published a paper documenting the project’s development and success. 

Huaca Malena is a pre-Inca ceremonial complex. During the period of regional development, 400–500 A.D., it functioned as an administrative and religious center. Between 700 and 1100 A.D. the upper platform was used by the Wari culture as a cemetery.

To the ancient Peruvians, textiles played a fundamental role in the dispersion of political and religious ideology. They were used to clothe the body, both in life and in death, as well as for social functions such as paying taxes. Every hand-weaving technique invented anywhere in the world was also known to the ancient Peruvians, which illustrates their ingenuity and resourcefulness.

It is this unique textile legacy that has brought North Americans to the Municipal Museum of Huaca Malena to collaborate with Peruvians in the conservation of artifacts from the collection. Over the course of five years more than forty textiles, mummy bundles, and mummified heads were conserved by forty-four participants in this collaborative effort.

The 30th Annual Northeast Conference on Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory will begin with an informal gathering on the evening of Oct 14, will continue on the 15th with plenary session talks, a reception, dinner, and a keynote talk by Richard Burger (Yale University) on Hiram Bingham and Machu Picchu, and will conclude with a half day of plenary session talks on the 16th. For more information, or to register for the conference, please visit the conference website.

About Museum Textile Services

Museum Textile Services, the premier textile conservation studio in New England, specializes in the preservation of fabric-based materials for cultural institutions and individuals. Museum Textile Services documents, cleans, stabilizes and mounts historic textiles. Through educational programs and outreach initiatives, Museum Textile Services teaches individuals and cultural heritage institutions how to ensure better preservation of their textiles. For more information, visit www.museumtextiles.com.