Four Cornered Hat, Tiwanaku Culture, Bolivia, 7-9th Century
Brightly coloured hats - usually featuring four corners, and four pointed tips - are particularly associated with two ancient cultures of the Andes: The Wari and the Tiwanaku.
These hats were made from camelid fibres, carefully and expertly prepared into yarns, and then dyed. They were usually decorated with geometric patterns (as seen above) or with stylised images representing plants or zoomorphic forms.
These hats were highly believed by archaeologists and scholars to have been worn by high-ranking men as symbols of power or status- due to figures adorning four-cornered-hats being frequently depicted on ceramics worn alongside other elite clothing and regalia such as, elaborate textiles or beaded collars.
