Huaco or Guaco is the generic name given in 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....

 mostly to earthen vessels and other finely made pottery artworks

Ceramic art

In art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery. Some ceramic products are regarded as fine art, while others are regarded as decorative, industrial or applied art objects, or as...

 by the 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...

 found in pre-Columbian

Pre-Columbian

The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...

 sites such as burial locations, sanctuaries, temples and other ancient ruins. Huacos are not mere earthenware

Earthenware

Earthenware is a common ceramic material, which is used extensively for pottery tableware and decorative objects.-Types of earthenware:Although body formulations vary between countries and even between individual makers, a generic composition is 25% ball clay, 28% kaolin, 32% quartz, and 15%...

 but notable pottery specimens linked to ceremonial, religious, artistic or aesthetic uses in central Andean

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

, pre-Columbian civilizations.

The Huari (Wari), along with the Nazca, the Moche and others, were among the major creators of figurines who passed down through history their unique skills in ceramics. The Incas, who absorbed all the cultures in the time of its expansion, also produced huacos.

Etymology

Since the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru, these types of pieces have been found in pre-Columbian sites like temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

s, graves

Grave (burial)

A grave is a location where a dead body is buried. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as graveyards or cemeteries....

 and burials, as well as other kinds of ruins. These sites, especially if they are of a sacred meaning, are called generic huaca

Huaca

In Quechua, a Native American language of South America, a huaca or waqa is an object that represents something revered, typically a monument of some kind. The term huaca can refer to natural locations, such as immense rocks. Some huacas have been associated with veneration and ritual...

or waqa in native Quechua

Quechua languages

Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...

, where it is likely that the figurines take their name. In Peru, a huaquero is a person that digs in ancient pre-Columbian ruins illegally in order to get valuable pieces of artwork, usually destroying the structure.

Variety of styles and colors

The bridge handles are characteristic of some cultures; some used many colors, while others used black and dull red or few colors. Inca Empire

Inca Empire

The Inca Empire, or Inka Empire , was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century...

 adopted all sorts of shapes, styles and qualities. The term "huaco" was reserved for any copies not reserved for daily use but the luxury or ritual.

Normally these ceramic pieces are associated with notable features. Sculptured figurines depict complex, stylized volumes, including cultural scenes, buildings, and naturalistic volumes such as portrait ceramics representing human faces (for example, the Moche Portrait Ceramic

Moche Portrait Ceramic

Moche portrait vessles are ceramic vessels featuring highly individualized and naturalistic representations of human faces that are unique to the Moche culture of Peru....

) or body parts by way of votive offering

Votive offering

A votive deposit or votive offering is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for broadly religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally made in order to gain favor with supernatural...

, erotica, tools, various fruits and foods, animals, etc.

When the pieces are sculptural ceramics, huacos are characterized by pictorial richness. There are many kinds of pots and containers covered with gaudy polychrome motifs, usually anthropomorphic representations of animals or mythological, erotica, etc. Two-toned Moche

Moche

'The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD, during the Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state...

 pottery is characterized by complex painted scenes detailing a narrative level. Examples of erotic huacos (Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

: huacos eróticos), make the Moche's 800-year period (c. 200 BC to c. 600 AD) the longest unbroken erotic ceramics tradition in the world, unique in the history of mankind. In the 1570s during the Spanish conquest of Peru, Viceroy

Viceroy

A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...

 Francisco de Toledo and his clerical advisers worked to destroy many erotic huacos, though some extant artifacts have survived.

In both cases the huaco is associated with ceramic complexity (in its volume or decoration) and not with regular use as a container on account of its physical dimensions. The slender Incan vessels known as aryballos, even opulently created examples, are not usually considered huacos since their utilitarian character is too pronounced.

Museum exhibits

The National Museum of the Archaeology, Anthropology, and History of Peru

National Museum of the Archaeology, Anthropology, and History of Peru

The Museo Nacional de Arqueología Antropología e Historia del Perú is the largest and oldest state museum in Peru, located on Plaza Bolívar in the Pueblo Libre district of Lima. The museum houses more than 100,000 artifacts spanning the entire history of human occupation in what is now Peru...

 in Lima, Peru houses a large number of ceramic artifacts. The nearby Larco Museum

Larco Museum

The Larco Museum is a privately owned museum of pre-Columbian art, located in the Pueblo Libre District of Lima, Peru. The museum is housed in an 18th century vice-royal mansion built over a 7th century pre-Columbian pyramid. It showcases chronological galleries that provide a thorough overview of...

houses a large collection of Moche ceramics and is well known for its collection of erotic pottery.