The Colima are part of a group of archaeological
cultures –
known almost purely from their artworks –
referred to as
the Western Mexico Shaft Tomb (WMST) tradition.
There are
many distinct groups within this agglomeration,
and their
relationships are almost totally obscure due to
the lack of
contextual information.
All of the cultures encompassed under the WMST
nomenclature were in the habit of burying their
dead in
socially-stratified burial chambers at the base of
deep
shafts, which were in turn often topped by
buildings.
Originally believed to be influenced by the
Tarascan people,
who were contemporaries of the Aztecs,
thermoluminescence has pushed back the dates
of these
groups over 1000 years. Although the apogee of
this
tradition was reached in the last centuries of the
1st
millennium BC, it has its origins over 1000 years
earlier at
sites such as Huitzilapa and Teuchitlan, in the
Jalisco
region. Little is known of the cultures
themselves, although
preliminary data seems to suggest that they were
sedentary
agriculturists with social systems not dissimilar
to
chiefdoms. These cultures are especially
interesting to
students of Mesoamerican history as they seem
to have
been to a large extent outside the ebb and flow
of more
aggressive cultures – such as the Toltecs, Olmecs
and Maya
– in the same vicinity. Thus insulated from the
perils of
urbanization, they developed very much in
isolation, and it
behooves us to learn what we can from what they
have left
behind.
The arts of this region are enormously variable
and hard to
understand in chronological terms, mainly due to
the lack
of context. The most striking works are the
ceramics, which
were usually placed in graves, and do not seem
to have
performed any practical function (although
highly
decorated utilitarian vessels are also known). It is
possible
that they were designed to depict the deceased –
they are
often very naturalistic – although it is more
probable that
they constituted, when in groups, a retinue of
companions,
protectors and servants for the hereafter. More
abstract
pieces – such as reclinatorios – probably had a
more
esoteric meaning that is hard to recapture from
the piece.
The current piece falls within the Colima style,
which is
perhaps the most unusual stylistic subgroup of
this region.
Characterized by a warm, red glaze, the figures
are very
measured and conservative, while at the same
time
displaying a great competence of line. They are
famous for
their sculptures of obese dogs, which seem to
have been
fattened for the table. Colima reclinatorios are
also
remarkable, curvilinear yet geometric
assemblages of
intersecting planes and enigmatic constructions
in the
semi-abstract.
This unusual jar-like vessel has a striking
presence. It holds a comical edge while also
maintaining an element of the mystical. It's
slight smile and slanted eyes allude to a sense of
mischievousness. As a shaman figure, its
exaggerated robustness suggests that the figure
is so full of powers that it is nearly busting.
Since this piece is a vessel, this fact may have
been both spiritually and literally true. For this
vessel may have been used to hold magic
potions used in incantations and rituals. He has
one horn that to channel energy form the gods.
His ears have been pierced suggesting that the
piece was once elaborately adorned. This piece
captures the Pre-Columbian spirituality in both
its sense of mysticism as well as its Universal
humanistic appeal.
