But these well-preserved remains may have served another purpose as well. We believe that they represent the earliest form of religious art found in the Americas. The hand of a child, naturally mummified, is wrapped with reeds. It is not surprising that the Chinchorro mummies have not been viewed as works of art, but as an unusual mortuary expression of an early Andean people. In many cultures icons exist as part of propitiation rites rather than as items to be collected.
Religious art is then the expression of the believers attempting to reach the gods.
The symbolism in religious art is context-specific, often associated with mythical heroes, deities, or ancestors. However, the icon is often not as important as what it represents. We see the black and red Chinchorro mummies as art because of the plasticity of their shapes, colors, and the mixed media used in their creation. These statues, the encased skeletons of departed ones, became sacred objects to be tended and revered by Chinchorro mourners. Leticia Latorre Orrego inspects the remains of an infant mummified in the black style.