light various recipes for the beverage in use at the time, including beers with a range of ingredients, such as maize 21 (corn) and molle berries (Schinus molle). In the 昀椀rst mil- lennium bce, maize beer may have been a feature of cele- brations at sites such as Cerro Blanco, a major ceremonial center in the Nepeña Valley, but it was not the dominant tipple: beverages made from crops such as manioc were 22 also prevalent. After 500 bce, however, maize beer, known today as aqha or chicha, became the most impor- tant ceremonial drink in the Andes, and it has remained so in traditional communities. Vessels that may have held beer often celebrate corn imagery, such as a Nasca vessel that depicts the key components of a corn plant, from the roots to the cobs, without leaves or husks (昀椀g. 31). A pair of Inca ritual ves- sels known as pacchas, created centuries later, combine the shapes of a foot plow, a cob, and an urpu into objects that neatly summarize the process of planting, harvest- 23 ing, and fermenting corn (昀椀g. 32). Pacchas functioned as ritual watering devices: liquids would be poured into the top of the jar and would then 昀氀ow through the foot plow into the earth, symbolically feeding it to ensure continued success in the agricultural cycle. Beer, essential for the maintenance of social cohesion, was a key component of ritual celebrations on both local and imperial scales. The imagery on ceramic vessels occa- sionally provides insight into such gatherings. A paccha from an earlier period, with a wide body, a 昀氀ared neck on one side, and a spout on the other, presents a lively scene (昀椀g. 33). Made by a Recuay potter in the Callejón de Huaylas, a valley in the Andean highlands, the vessel depicts seven small 昀椀gures standing in front of a wall with a painted frieze; they surround a larger 昀椀gure lying on its stomach. The larger 昀椀gure, perhaps a curaca (lord) or ancestor, wears an elaborate crescent-shaped headdress, usually indicative of high or even supernatural status, and circular ear ornaments. Two individuals approach the large being and present a camelid, held on a lead. Five women 昀氀anking the being hold cups, reminding us that the exchange of liquids was at the heart of Andean ritual practice, crucial to the maintenance of social relations among members of a community but also between the community and ancestral power. Containers as Bodies Pots are often conceptually associated with people not 31. Corn stalk-shaped vessel. Nasca; South Coast, Peru, 1–600 ce. only within the 昀椀eld of archaeology, which views ceram- Ceramic and slip, H. 10 ⼀攀 in. (26 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, ics as being diagnostic of speci昀椀c communities and cul- New York; Purchase, Judith S. Randal Foundation Gift, 1989 (1989.62.1) 32 tures, but also in the way we speak of clay vessels, such as