15.4

Sculpture from Tiahuanaco that precedes Late SAIS imagery and belongs to the Yaya-Mama style, defined by Karen and Sergio Chávez. The Rayed Head was popular in at least some Yaya-Mama representations, appearing in the most elaborate form of Yaya-Mama art, the Pucara style, in which a distinctive Sacrificer figure has been described as the "feline man" (Sergio Chávez, this volume, 2002). This Yaya-Mama statue was named the Bearded Statue by its discoverers, but comparison with other Andean imagery shows that it is actually wearing a large nose ring or mouthmask similar to many that appear in Nasca art.