In colonial times, queros were used to drink chicha and to formalize pacts in ritual ceremonies by the indigenous Andean elites. They had been manufactured for centuries, long before the Incas dominated the region, and continued to be made after Spanish domination and compulsory evangelization had been established. During the Inca empire, the surface of the queros was covered just with incisions and geometric forms; in the viceroyalty of Peru they were covered instead with figurative images. In this work we analyze the evolution of these forms and the different ways in which these ceremonial vessels were used to evoke the Andean pasts.
Os queros eram utilizados para beber chicha e formalizar pactos em cerimônias rituais pelas elites indígenas andinas na época colonial. Queros haviam sido fabricados durante séculos, muito antes que os incas dominassem a região, e continuaram sendo feitos depois de estabelecidas a dominação espanhola e a evangelização compulsória. Nos tempos do Tahuantinsuyo, a superfície dos queros estava coberta de incisões e formas geométricas; no vice-reino do Peru adquiriram profusas imagens figurativas. Neste trabalho, analisamos a evolução dessas formas e os diversos modos em que esses vasos cerimoniais eram utilizados para evocar os passados andinos.