Seities Deified Seities

This piece was inspired by ancient preColumbian Peruvian whistling water vessels.

As artist Brian Ransom states in “The Enigma of Whistling Water Jars,”

The whistling water jar is an intriguing technological phenomenon within the complex conceptual structure of preColumbian ceramics which pertains to the development of both musical and ceramic art forms in the new world. This device has a long history of production. Starting as early as the formative periods in South America, we find examples of whistling jars in a wide range of cultures as far north as Mexico and as far south as southern Peru. Several hundred years after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in South America, whistling jars ceased to be made. Little is known of what role these jars played within the context of the ancient societies which produced them. Although most aspects of life, including ceremonies, war, sports and sexual activities, are depicted in painted and sculpted scenes on the pottery from most preColumbian cultures (most typically the Mochica of Peru), not a single known representation showing the use of a whistling water jar has been recorded. Archaeologists have long acknowledged the presence of this eccentric ceramic invention, yet little in-depth research has been done to document their development or use.

The whistling water vessel can be sounded by breath or by motion when filled with water.