these themes into a standardized imperial style that could easily be replicated and spread throughout the empire. The simple abstract geometric forms and highly stylized animal representation in:ceramics, wood carvings, textiles and metalwork were all part of the Inca culture. The motifs were not as revivalist as previous empires. No motifs of other societies were directly used except Huari and Tiwanaku arts. Shipbuilding For fishing, trade, construction, transport and military purposes, the Inca built seagoing vessels called balsas by weaving together totora reeds. The largest of these vessels were 20 to 30 meters long/787 inches to 1181 inches, making them comparable in length to the Spanish caravel. This method of constructing ships from woven reeds is an ancient Peruvian tradition which long predates the Inca. There are depictions of such vessels in Moche pottery dating back to 100 A.D. Clothing Inca officials wore stylized tunics that indicated their status. It contains an amalgamation of motifs used in the tunics of particular officeholders. For instance, the black and white checkerboard pattern topped with a pink triangle is believed to have been worn by soldiers of the army. Some of the motifs refer to earlier cultures, such as the stepped diamonds of the Huari and the three-step stairstep motif of the Moche. The cloth was divided into three classes. Alaska was used for household use and usually made from llama wool. Finer cloth, quipu, was divided into two classes:the first, woven by male qunpikamayuq (keepers of fine cloth) from alpaca wool, was collected as tribute from throughout the country and was used for trade. The other class of quipu ranked highest. It was woven in the Acllawasi (acllahuasi) by "called" (female virgins of the sun god temple) from vicuña wool and used solely for royal and religious use. These had thread counts of 300 or more per inch, unsurpassed anywhere in the world, until the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. Aside from the tunic, a person of importance wore a llawt'u, a series of cords wrapped around the head. To establish his importance, the Inca Atahualpa commissioned a llawt'u woven from vampire bat hair. The leader of each ayllu, or extended family, had its own headdress. In conquered regions, traditional clothing continued to be worn, but the finest weavers, such as those of Chan Chan, were transferred to Cusco and kept there to weave quips (the Chimú had previously transferred these