There are many distinct groups within the
agglomeration referred to as the Western Mexico
Shaft Tomb (WMST) tradition, foremost among
them the Jalisco, Nayarit, and Colima. Their
relationships are almost totally obscure due to
the lack of contextual information. However, it is
the artworks that are the most informative. All of
the cultures encompassed under the WMST
umbrella 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.
There are few cultures in the Americas or indeed
elsewhere that can match the Jalisco for
exuberant skill in the production of figurative
ceramics. These wares 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. Many of the figures
represent warriors, judging from their apparel
and martial stance. These were probably
protectors of the deceased, symbolic of actual
people who were buried with the deceased as
retainers in more sanguineous Central and
Southern American societies. Supernatural and
more enigmatic figures are also known,
presumably representing aspects of Jalisco
cultural heritage (gods, spirits, ancestors,
mythological figures etc) that cannot be
understood at the present time. However,
perhaps the best-known style is that of the
maternity figure.
This magnificent terracotta sculpture of a
standing man brings us the precious clues of an
Ancient culture that flourished more than a
thousand years ago. Skillfully burnished, the
sculpture is red-slipped in rich, earthy color the
exquisite details depicted in the sculpture
delight our eyes, while giving us clues about the
significance of this Ancient person. Adorned with
bodily decorations, the person must have been
an important or an established figure in the
Ancient village. He wears a headdress decorated
with white paint and two oval attachments. Also,
he wears ear spools, a nose ring, necklaces, and
shoulder scarification.
His bold face looks upward, with his eyes wide
open. His mouth is also slightly open, revealing
finely carved teeth. With every feature of the
figure skillfully and attentively sculpted, the
figure seems almost alive. Found in a shaft tomb
in Ancient west Mexico, perhaps this sculpture
possesses a benevolent spirit that accompanied
the deceased into the underworld. As beautiful
and special the sculpture is even today, it surely
must have been the centerpiece of the funeral
ritual. As we look into the figure, we can feel the
Ancient spirits and hands that sculpted it so
lovingly.
