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?
