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The remains of a once vibrant culture are now
submerged under a lake. Fortunately,
excavations in the 1940's on the site were able
to uncover sufficient artifacts to give us an
intriguing picture of people who lived there
centuries ago. Chupicuaro was the elaborate
burial ground of a village above the Lerma River
in the state of Guanajuato, eighty miles
northwest of the Valley of Mexico. The abundant
offerings of pottery, jade, and figurines
discovered there attest to a flourishing artistic
culture. One of the most endearing types of the
clay objects is the small female figures, or 'pretty
ladies'. They typically show a naked female with
short arms, extended stomach and a fancy
coiffure or headdress.
The unusual costume this fellow wears identifies
him as a player in the ballgame, one of the
central rituals of Ancient Mexican life. The
ballgame served as a metaphor for cosmic
struggles, a contest with a life-or-death
outcome. The stunned
globe this man wears about his waist is probably
a variant on the 'Hacha,' the heavy weights used
to handicap the players. The flower bud worn
around his head is a symbol of death itself,
probably indicating that the game was played as
part of a funerary ritual. Exotic yet familiar, this
little figure evokes a distant and mysterious
world.
- (PF.1969)
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