Ritual Objects for the Dead

Decorated pottery vessels are occasionally found in burials of individuals belonging to the Wari culture, which developed between A.D. 600 and 1000 in the highlands of Peru. This vase at the Museo Larco in Lima, Peru, has paintings of animal heads, and the neck is molded into a human face. Vessels such as this were most likely used for funerary rituals as offerings to the dead.