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 man is seated on the ground, resting his
right hand on his raised knee and his other on
the side of his leg, resting upon the ground. He
is posed in a comfortable, relaxed posture,
especially when one considers the other anxious
poses that are typical of Jalisco art. This
individual wears large, round earrings as well as
a nose ring that hangs between his two nostrils.
His mouth is slightly ajar, although his teeth are
not visible, giving off the illusion that he is in the
midst of taking a breath. A fancy headband has
been wrapped around his elongated head. The
sculptor has carefully elaborated the headband,
with incised geometric marks that decorate the
front. In addition, this figure wears a painted
necklace of black beads. His shoulders feature
several small bumps that are characteristic of
Jalisco art and are believed to represent ritual
keloid scarification. This astounding work of art
was discovered buried alongside the deceased in
a tomb. Such sculptures may have served as
companions for the afterlife. Whatever its
funerary significance, a work such as this
sculpture continues to look after us today,
excavated from below and brought into a new
world and age. What does he have to teach us
about the past?
