Bird Head Effigy Spout Bottle

This mold-made Chimú blackware bottle has a bird effigy head on the spout, and a ribbon handle. Birds are often symbolic of the spirit flight taken by a shaman or religious specialist during a vision quest, when the shaman is said to transform into a bird in order to transcend the material world and communicate with ancestor spirits. Often aided by hallucinogenic drugs, a shaman’s spirit would fly out from his body in search of knowledge and spiritual fulfillment. Birds of all sorts are commonly depicted on pre-Columbian works of art. Some birds, such as the harpy eagle, are said to “possess all the wisdom of the spirits.” Brightly-colored feathers were often added to clothing both for decoration and to symbolize shamanic transformation during vision quests and/or chiefly wisdom.