Why were the feathers of birds such an essential artistic medium in the ancient Americas, more so than anywhere else in the world? Several publications of recent years have explored this question, especially in regard to Mesoamerica, where items such as the so-called Moctezuma’s Headdress, made with four hundred quetzal tail feathers, stand as testament to the aesthetic and ideological power of feathers. Fewer publications address the important role of feathers and birds in the ancient Andes. This is despite the fact that in Cuzco, Manko Inka gifted multiple feathered garments to Francisco Pizarro upon meeting him, as had done his Aztec counterparts in Mexico upon meeting Hernán Cortés. Ethnohistorian Claudia Brosseder addresses this lacuna and offers a thorough treatment of the reasons why the Inkas valued and used birds in their religion and statecraft.
Brosseder’s main sources of information are twofold. Written sources include early colonial dictionaries and a...
