The most well-known aspect of shamanism in Mesoamerican religion - and in the whole of Native American shamanism - is the ability to assume the powers of animals associated with the shaman. Such animals are called naguales in Nahuatl, and in Olmec art the most common of these is the jaguar. In a sense, the optimal spirit would have the spirituality and intellect of man and the ferocity and strength of the jaguar - these are all combined in the shaman and his jaguar nagual. This Jaguar Child, from San Lorenzo in southern Veracruz, may exemplify such a combination. This is a very common representation in Olmec art, and it often includes the slitted eyes and curved mouth pronounced in this figure. The back of the piece is shaped like a water drain, reinforcing the relationship believed to exist between the Jaguar Child and the rain
National Museum of Anthropology and History
The slitted eyes and curved mouth are also shown in this small carving, so the human presence is felt here. The eyebrows are feathered like an eagle's - this figure may show the way the shaman's soul traverses the heavens with the power of the eagle's flight. From the shaman's perspective, the soul requires an animal medium - the nagual - to enter the various realms: the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. Notice the cinnabar tracing etched into the face; this mercury ore was a precious mineral for the Olmecs.
National Museum of Anthropology and History
The Olmecs are considered Mesoamerica's oldest civilization, whose history dates from 1800 to 400 BCE. On an interesting note, this flat stone, only four inches tall, might have been unearthed from a Gulf Coast field. When time came for the region's people to offer tributary gifts to the Aztec Empire, this head was included. It was discovered at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, where it is on display.
Aztec Great Temple Museum
Because of the long extensions from the corners of the mouth, faces such as this one were long understood to emulate the jaguar. Anthropologist Peter Furst suggested an alternative look at the style: the animal is a frog, eating its molted skin. From a spiritual stance, this could represent the earth as a being that consumes from itself in order to generate anew. The frog could thus relate to principles of renewal, rejuvenation, rain, and growth, especially in the spring.
National Museum of Anthropology and History
The low relief on this stone shows the detail from a four-digit numerical recording, read as 15.6.16.18. The vigesimal (or base-20) counting system has been used across Mesoamerica. A value of 5 is represented by a bar, and a value of 1 is represented by a dot, such that the three bars and single dot here stands for 16. The Maya would later adopt this counting system for their Long Count calendar. The date in this relief is one of the earliest recorded dates in Mesoamerica, corresponding to a day in the year 31 BCE.
National Museum of Anthropology and History
Unlike the posing or abstracted stances of humans in other Olmec works, this piece has a sense of activity and motion. "El Luchador" means 'The Wrestler,' named for the defensive posture in the arms and back. An interesting thing about this man is his mustache and goatee - these were rare in Mesoamerica, so rare that they signified nobility or even divinity.
National Museum of Anthropology and History
The 16 small figures in this scene have been restored to the original positions they had been found in at La Venta, Tabasco. There is no definite answer for what this scene is enacting, but it is significant for being the only known burial offering in Mesoamerica to reenact a ritual scene. One of the pieces, with his back to the tall celts, is hewn from a different stone than the rest of the pieces; this has been suggested to represent a ritual initiate. Another noteworthy aspect of this concession is that all of the men have elongated skulls, the result of cranial deformation begun at an early age. For the Maya, this would be a practice reserved for noble children.
National Museum of Anthropology and History
Portrait of a man with said deformation. This life-sized greenstone head was found at Tenango del Valle, Mexico State, surprisingly a distance west from the Olmec "heartland" of Veracruz and Tabasco.
National Museum of Anthropology and History