Double spout and bridge vessel - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The double spout and bridge was a form of usually ceramic

Ceramic

A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

drinking vessel developed sometime before 500 BC by Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

groups on the Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

vian coast. True to its name, this type of bottle

Bottle

A bottle is a rigid container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth". By contrast, a jar has a relatively large mouth or opening. Bottles are often made of glass, clay, plastic, aluminum or other impervious materials, and typically used to store liquids such as water, milk, soft...

is distinguished by two spouts with a handle bridging them. First used by the Paracas culture

Paracas culture

The Paracas culture was an important Andean society between approximately 800 BCE and 100 BCE, with an extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management. It developed in the Paracas Peninsula, located in what today is the Paracas District of the Pisco Province in the Ica Region...

, it was later adopted by the Nazca

Nazca culture

The Nazca culture was the archaeological culture that flourished from 100 to 800 CE beside the dry southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and the Ica Valley...

. While at first the Paracas tended to incise designs derived from the art of the Chavin culture

Chavín culture

The Chavín were a civilization that developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru from 900 BC to 200 BC. They extended their influence to other civilizations along the coast. The Chavín were located in the Mosna Valley where the Mosna and Huachecsa rivers merge...

on the surface of the vessels, later on they began to treat the vessel as a sculptural form, an advance facilitated by developments in ceramic technology that allowed them construct vessels with thinner walls. This tradition was continued by the Nazca, whose vessels were elaborately figurative (see illustration below right), decorated with polychrome glazes, or both.

The vessels were constructed by the coil method

Coiling (pottery)

Coiling is a method of creating pottery. It has been used to shape clay into vessels for many of thousands of years. It ranges from Africa to Greece and from China to New Mexico. They have used this method in a variety of ways. Using the coiling technique, it is possible to build thicker or taller...

. The Nazca would then apply multicolored slip

Slip (ceramics)

A slip is a suspension in water of clay and/or other materials used in the production of ceramic ware. Deflocculant, such as sodium silicate, can be added to the slip to disperse the raw material particles...

to achieve polychrome effects before the vessels were fired, an advance over the Paracas, who had painted the vessels with resins after firing. The Nazca technique allowed for much brighter and more permanent colors, whose sheen was enhanced by burnishing after the vessel was fired.

Both the Paracas and the Nazca appear to have used this type of vessel for ritual purposes, as they are most often found in graves.

See also