Sling Item Number: 3486/37 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
A small-size sling (waraqa); likely made for a child. The sling has a finger-woven pocket and solid braid handles with a finger-loop at one end. Chevron pattern in black and white.
Several types of slings are used for different purposes in the Andes. Men and boys traditionally use slings for hurling stones in warfare, hunting and/or herding (waraqa in Quechua; honda in Spanish), a practice that has roots deep in the Pre-Columbian past. Males often wore their sling like a headband, as depicted in ancient ceramics from the Early Nasca Period (0–300).
Sling handles are usually made as solid braids, a technique that is done by holding the braid in one’s fist and crossing threads from the four quadrants across the crown of the braid. Variations in colour, slant, and sequence in the crossing threads produce a variety of diamond or oblique patterns. Slings have a flat ovoid section near the middle, which serves to cradle the stone that will be hurled.
Purchased by the donor in Taquile, Peru (an island community in Lake Titicaca) in 1987 from Teresa Flores Huatta, the wife of the maker.