Tunic with Profile Animals and Checkerboards, AD 410-540 (radiocarbon date, 93% probability). Peru, South Coast, Paracas or Nasca (700 BC-AD 650). Cotton; dye-patterned plain-weave; overall: 72.4 x 104.1 cm (28 1/2 x 41 in.). The imagery in the central field of this unique tunic—animals with long tails and three-toedfeet—seems to have been created by painting a slurry-like material on the pale areas to protect them when the fabric was immersed in a bath that turned other areas light brown. Then the slurry was removed, revealing the pattern. The plaid areas at the sides, on the other hand, are woven with brown and cream-colored yarns. Specialists puzzle overthe origins of the tunic, some attributing it to the Paracas (700 BC-AD 1) and others to the Nasca (100 BC-AD 650), who sprang from Paracas roots.