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.
In addition to vessels in the shapes of
humans and dogs, the artists of Colima also
made simple, yet beautiful cylindrical vessels.
The decoration of these containers seems to
follow a pattern, as they generally feature one
image, which is repeated (sometimes with slight
variations) four times on the vessel's outside
surface. Four coiled serpents have been carved
in low relief on this piece, and snakes in other
shapes are seen on the other vessels of this type.
The common appearance of this animal on
funerary items may indicate that it was a symbol
associated with the underworld, as it was in
Mayan mythology.
