This Peruvian vessel consists of two bottles joined at the chambers and with a bridge (possibly used as a handle) between the necks. There is a small hole at the back of the figure’s head which allows air in or out when liquid is added or removed. When liquid is poured into or out of the vessel, it forces air through the other spout and across another small hole on the bridge between the spouts, sounding the whistle. Simply adding liquid to the vessel does not create enough of an airflow to make much of a sound, however. Whistling vessels may have been sounded by actually blowing into the spout, which creates a much richer tone.

Whistling vessels are a unique ceramic tradition that persisted for hundreds along the Andes Mountains of Peru and Ecuador for hundreds of years until shortly after contact with the Spanish. These fascinating and mysterious bottles were both musical instruments and containers. Studies have demonstrated that whistling bottles from the same time and place were actually tuned to compatible frequencies and when sounded together create a deep resonant undertone.
– Ed Fleming, Curator of Archaeology