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Description
Three thousand metres above sea level, a city stands proudly in the clouds. The bright sun shines on the peaks of the mountains and makes the plastered walls of round houses gleam. Glorious pink orchids rise to meet it and colourful birds dart across the sky. Waters from the rainforest in the west cool and rise up along the mountain slopes, feeding a unique mix of tropical and montane flora and fauna. This is the cloud forest, and to the Chachapoya, it is home.

The Chachapoya, sometimes known as the Warriors of the Clouds, lived at an important crossroads. With access to the peoples of both the Andes and the Amazon, they took up a role as crucial middlemen in the trade that flowed between the two. The great Wari and Tiwanaku peoples of the highlands sought fibers, tropical feathers, and medicines from the rainforest, and the Chachapoya could provide these. The later Inca, who conquered the Chachapoya in the 15th century, also tell us that they were skilled healers and renowned for their beautiful textile arts. Chachapoya art brought together the influences of the highlands and the lowland rainforests. The Inca claimed that the women of Chachapoya, in addition to being great weavers, were incredibly beautiful. This might have been because the Chachapoya did not practice cranial modification or tattooing, two common practices which the Inca considered backwards and unattractive.

Perhaps the greatest of all the Chachapoya cities was Kuélap. Occupation of the city started around the year 500, so by the time we find it in the year 1000, it was already well-established and in its prime. While Kuélap's position high above the Utcubamba River would be impressive enough on its own, what sets Kuélap apart from other Chachapoya sites is its incredible wall. Three times more stone was quarried to build the wall of Kuélap than in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Two thousand feet of limestone wall encircles the city. Entrance to Kuélap was tightly controlled through three passageways so narrow that only one person could pass through them at a time. The city was so well-protected that when the Inca came to conquer it in the 15th century, they were unable to breach the wall and had to wait out a seige until the Chachapoya ran out of food months later. At its height, Kuélap had hundreds of homes, built in the round style characteristic of the Chachapoya which was thought to better protect against the strong mountain winds.

The girl in this illustration is a teenager. Her headband is decorated with shell beads that may have been imported from the Pacific coast. The source of her other clothing is probably closer to home, and she may have even made them herself since Chachapoya women were known to be expert weavers. Her dress is made from the fine wool of the vicuña, camelids who grazed on the slopes below Kuélap alongside llamas and alpacas. Her mantle is made from cotton and is tie dyed in shades of blue and brown. Tie dye is a style most commonly associated with the Wari but is found in a few rare Chachapoya textiles, further sign of trade and influence between the two.

Young people in Kuélap were well looked-after. Children and adolescents were given preferential treatment when it came to the distribution of food. Parenting was clearly taken very seriously among the Chachapoya. Even into adulthood, we know that the Chachapoya did their best to look after anyone who became injured or sick. Although the people of Kuélap appear to have been prone to injury, likely due to the treacherous terrain of their homeland, archaeological evidence shows that great care was taken to help people recover from accidents. This young woman, then, will have received care and love during her childhood in order to prepare her for adult life in the great walled city.

There is much we do not know about the Chachapoya. The Inca massively redistributed their population to break down recurrent rebellions, and much was destroyed during the early Spanish colonial period, when Kuélap and many other sites were abandoned. Looters today seek out Chachapoya burial sites which are usually signposted by ancient petroglyphs, since the Chachapoya put a high value on creating elaborate and beautiful mortuary monuments. The cloud forest is not an easy environment for archaeologists to work in, and it is also one of the most fragile and important ecosystems in the world. Kuélap itself had been almost completely reclaimed by the trees and flowers when a local man stumbled upon it in the 19th century. But a thousand years ago, it was one of the greatest cities of South America. The people of Kuélap enabled trade between the rainforest and the coast, profiting greatly off the flow of goods. For a young woman living in the city, this meant that she had access to the finest raw goods to create textiles, pottery, meals, and other arts. While life in the city must have been very busy, one can imagine that sometimes, she took a break to sit by the edge of the wall and watch the clouds.

What a joy it has been to work on this picture and research the Chachapoya. This was a challenging but very rewarding picture. Thoughts of Kuélap have been sending me off to sleep for two weeks now. I dream of going to visit it myself one day - it truly is a magnificent testament to the beautiful world of the Chachapoya.

This picture wouldn't have been possible without the support of my mother Sabine Hyland, who is always happy to talk about Peruvian history with me. I'd also like to thank DizzyMountaineer and SachiiA for their help with the art and Morgan for moral support! I'm really proud of how this one came out because it really matches the vision I had for it. Also, a special shout-out for the Andean cock-of-the-rock, which has to be one of the most ridiculous and flamboyant birds on Earth.

Learn more on the website: womenof1000ad.weebly.com/cloud…

Others in the series include...
Kokannon

Duong Van Nga and Le Thi Phat Ngan

Dobira

Thorgunna

The Deaconess of Lucca
Karima al-Marwaziyya
Sembiyan Mahādevi and Kundavai Pirāttiyār
The Parishioner of North Elmham

Zoë and Theodora Porphyrogenita

The Inuk and the Tunik

Description
Three thousand metres above sea level, a city stands proudly in the clouds. The bright sun shines on the peaks of the mountains and makes the plastered walls of round houses gleam. Glorious pink orchids rise to meet it and colourful birds dart across the sky. Waters from the rainforest in the west cool and rise up along the mountain slopes, feeding a unique mix of tropical and montane flora and fauna. This is the cloud forest, and to the Chachapoya, it is home.

The Chachapoya, sometimes known as the Warriors of the Clouds, lived at an important crossroads. With access to the peoples of both the Andes and the Amazon, they took up a role as crucial middlemen in the trade that flowed between the two. The great Wari and Tiwanaku peoples of the highlands sought fibers, tropical feathers, and medicines from the rainforest, and the Chachapoya could provide these. The later Inca, who conquered the Chachapoya in the 15th century, also tell us that they were skilled healers and renowned for their beautiful textile arts. Chachapoya art brought together the influences of the highlands and the lowland rainforests. The Inca claimed that the women of Chachapoya, in addition to being great weavers, were incredibly beautiful. This might have been because the Chachapoya did not practice cranial modification or tattooing, two common practices which the Inca considered backwards and unattractive.

Perhaps the greatest of all the Chachapoya cities was Kuélap. Occupation of the city started around the year 500, so by the time we find it in the year 1000, it was already well-established and in its prime. While Kuélap's position high above the Utcubamba River would be impressive enough on its own, what sets Kuélap apart from other Chachapoya sites is its incredible wall. Three times more stone was quarried to build the wall of Kuélap than in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Two thousand feet of limestone wall encircles the city. Entrance to Kuélap was tightly controlled through three passageways so narrow that only one person could pass through them at a time. The city was so well-protected that when the Inca came to conquer it in the 15th century, they were unable to breach the wall and had to wait out a seige until the Chachapoya ran out of food months later. At its height, Kuélap had hundreds of homes, built in the round style characteristic of the Chachapoya which was thought to better protect against the strong mountain winds.

The girl in this illustration is a teenager. Her headband is decorated with shell beads that may have been imported from the Pacific coast. The source of her other clothing is probably closer to home, and she may have even made them herself since Chachapoya women were known to be expert weavers. Her dress is made from the fine wool of the vicuña, camelids who grazed on the slopes below Kuélap alongside llamas and alpacas. Her mantle is made from cotton and is tie dyed in shades of blue and brown. Tie dye is a style most commonly associated with the Wari but is found in a few rare Chachapoya textiles, further sign of trade and influence between the two.

Young people in Kuélap were well looked-after. Children and adolescents were given preferential treatment when it came to the distribution of food. Parenting was clearly taken very seriously among the Chachapoya. Even into adulthood, we know that the Chachapoya did their best to look after anyone who became injured or sick. Although the people of Kuélap appear to have been prone to injury, likely due to the treacherous terrain of their homeland, archaeological evidence shows that great care was taken to help people recover from accidents. This young woman, then, will have received care and love during her childhood in order to prepare her for adult life in the great walled city.

There is much we do not know about the Chachapoya. The Inca massively redistributed their population to break down recurrent rebellions, and much was destroyed during the early Spanish colonial period, when Kuélap and many other sites were abandoned. Looters today seek out Chachapoya burial sites which are usually signposted by ancient petroglyphs, since the Chachapoya put a high value on creating elaborate and beautiful mortuary monuments. The cloud forest is not an easy environment for archaeologists to work in, and it is also one of the most fragile and important ecosystems in the world. Kuélap itself had been almost completely reclaimed by the trees and flowers when a local man stumbled upon it in the 19th century. But a thousand years ago, it was one of the greatest cities of South America. The people of Kuélap enabled trade between the rainforest and the coast, profiting greatly off the flow of goods. For a young woman living in the city, this meant that she had access to the finest raw goods to create textiles, pottery, meals, and other arts. While life in the city must have been very busy, one can imagine that sometimes, she took a break to sit by the edge of the wall and watch the clouds.

What a joy it has been to work on this picture and research the Chachapoya. This was a challenging but very rewarding picture. Thoughts of Kuélap have been sending me off to sleep for two weeks now. I dream of going to visit it myself one day - it truly is a magnificent testament to the beautiful world of the Chachapoya.

This picture wouldn't have been possible without the support of my mother Sabine Hyland, who is always happy to talk about Peruvian history with me. I'd also like to thank DizzyMountaineer and SachiiA for their help with the art and Morgan for moral support! I'm really proud of how this one came out because it really matches the vision I had for it. Also, a special shout-out for the Andean cock-of-the-rock, which has to be one of the most ridiculous and flamboyant birds on Earth.

Learn more on the website: womenof1000ad.weebly.com/cloud…

Others in the series include...
Kokannon

Duong Van Nga and Le Thi Phat Ngan

Dobira

Thorgunna

The Deaconess of Lucca
Karima al-Marwaziyya
Sembiyan Mahādevi and Kundavai Pirāttiyār
The Parishioner of North Elmham

Zoë and Theodora Porphyrogenita

The Inuk and the Tunik