Tunic with Diamond Band 1460-1540 Inca Tunics with a diamond-pattern at the waist are one type of some half-dozen standardized designs known from the Inca Empire, the polity that dominated much of western South America in what is known as the Late Horizon period (AD 1470-1532). This tunic features a white ground interrupted by a red band at the waist containing eight stepped diamond shapes on each side. White tunics were particularly highly esteemed by the Incas, as white camelids were comparatively rare in the Andes. Inca tunics display remarkably little variation in size, suggesting an extreme control over production. Fine cloth was woven by the acllas, the chosen women” of the Inca, but it was also produced by full-time professional weavers who worked in the service of the Inca emperor or other important lords. The finest cloth, known as cumbi, could have as many as three hundred finely spun and dyed weft yarns per inch densely packed over equally fine three-ply warps. It is one of