section_path: Culture/Ceramics, precious metals and textiles
section_name: Ceramics, precious metals and textiles
paragraph_text: Ceramics, precious metals and textiles
  
  Ceramics were painted using the polychrome technique portraying numerous motifs including animals, birds, waves, felines (popular in the Chavin culture) and geometric patterns found in the Nazca style of ceramics. In a culture without a written language, ceramics portrayed the basic scenes of everyday life, including the smelting of metals, relationships and scenes of tribal warfare. The most distinctive Inca ceramic objects are the urpu (Cusco bottles or "aryballos"), mainly used for the production of chicha. Many of these pieces are on display in Lima in the Larco Archaeological Museum and the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History.
  
  Almost all of the gold and silver work of the Inca empire was melted down by the conquistadors, and shipped back to Spain.