The Shaman in Transformation Pose: A Study of the Theme of Rulership in Olmec ArtAuthor(s): F. Kent Reilly, IIIReviewed work(s):Source: Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, Vol. 48, No. 2 (1989), pp. 4-21Published by: Princeton University Art MuseumStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3774730 .Accessed: 30/03/2012 19:17

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The Shaman inTransformation Pose:

A Study of theTheme of Rulership in Olmec Art

F. KENT REILLY, III

Olmec religion was therefore a royal cult. . . -Michael D. Coe1

Among the many pre-Columbian artifacts housed in The Art Museum, the Shaman in Transformation Pose

(fig. i)2 presents the most convincing evidence that human rulership during the Middle Formative period of Mesoamerican prehistory was legitimized by a charter that stressed the ruler's access to supernatural power. Olmec civilization, which flourished in southern Mexico from 1200 to 500 B.C., is currently identified as the dominant cultural expression of Middle Formative Mesoamerica. Olmec civilization is of paramount inter- est to scholars who view it as an American equivalent to the primal civilizations of the Old World.3 Using new and intensive archaeological, ecological, and icono-

graphic research methods, these scholars have also determined that the religious and political systems

expressed through Olmec iconography established the

philosophical and political foundations for successive Mesoamerican civilizations until the coming of the

Spanish in the sixteenth century.4 In order to understand how a single work of art like

Princeton's Shaman in Transformation Pose can provide new insights into recent Olmec and Middle Formative

period research, it is important first to determine

exactly what is meant by the term "Olmec." Currently, Olmec is a label applied to both an archaeological cul- ture and an early pre-Columbian art style. The Olmec

archaeological culture was centered in a geographic Heartland stretching for some I50 miles along the southern bend of the Bay of Campeche (fig. 2). By IIoo B.C. at a number of sites within this Heartland, the

Figure 2. Map of southern Mexico showing the location of San Lorenzo in the Olmec Heartland and Teopante- cuanitlan in Guerrero.

5

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Figure I. Shaman in Transformation Pose, Olmec style, ca. 800 B.C. Polished gray stone, with traces of cinnabar, h. 17.5 cm., w. I5.5 cm., d. 9 cm. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Museum purchase, gift of Mrs. Gerard B. Lambert (76-21).

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enormous earthen platforms and huge basalt heads that have become the hallmark of Olmec civilization began to be constructed (fig. 3).5

While the Olmec archaeological culture has geo- graphical limits, the Olmec art style is found through- out Mesoamerica. Michael Coe describes this cross- cultural Olmec art as possessing a complex symbol system "based on a religion of the strangest sort"; a sense of monumentality, even in small objects; a ten-

dency toward realism; and a compositional use of

empty space.6 The many motifs and symbols that make

up the Olmec symbol system are found on portable

Figure 3. San Lorenzo, Monument I, Olmec culture. Basalt, h. 2.85 m. Museo de Antropologica de Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.

items located far beyond the Heartland. How these

portable items were distributed throughout Meso- america is still unknown.7 Current anthropological theory favors some form of trade and exchange interac- tion. Within such an interaction network, lowland coastal products like marine shells, tropical birds' feath- ers, and, possibly, cotton and cacao beans were

exchanged for serpentine, obsidian, and other stones from the highlands.8 Over the years several scholars, including Miguel Covarrubias, Gillett Griffin, and Carlo T. E. Gay, have questioned the generally accepted Heartland origin of the Olmec style; and David Grove has disputed whether artifacts known to originate from

highland and Pacific Coast Formative period sites bear-

ing "Olmec-style" iconography should be classified as Olmec at all.9 I propose that such artifacts would be better classified as ritual objects that functioned in a

geographically dispersed ceremonial complex. The most concentrated expression of this ceremonial com-

plex was in the Olmec Heartland itself. The existence of Olmec-style symbols on so many

objects associated with elite members of Formative

period society -as well as several recent breakthroughs in iconographic interpretations - strongly indicate that the Olmec-style symbol system was a visible charter for rulership within the Heartland and in those areas of Mesoamerica that participated in the Formative Period Ceremonial Complex.10 The individual motifs of the

symbol system expressed the organization of the For- mative period world view. When displayed on the

images of rulers, they were arranged within consistent

patterns analogous to syntax in language.11 This consis-

tency allowed people who were literate in the symbol system, no matter what their language, to recognize their rulers' public proclamation of the supernatural source of their power.

Much of the value of the Olmec-style portable objects must have been in their ability to convey the

iconography of this ideology. The right publicly to

display and manipulate this iconographic system may have been the motivation for elite participation throughout Mesoamerica in the Formative Period Ceremonial Complex.

6

Figure 4. Teopantecuanit- lan, T-shaped Monolith I, Olmec style. Travertine, with traces of polychrome, h. 1.50 m., w. 2.20 m., d. 0.90go m., wt. 3 tons.

(photo: courtesy of Logan Wagner)

Recent archaeological discoveries outside the Heart- land have demonstrated the extent of the geographic range of the Formative Period Ceremonial Complex. Excavations conducted from 1982 to 1985 at the junc- tion of the Amacuzac and Balsas rivers in the state of Guerrero uncovered a large site that the excavators named Teopantecuanitlan.12 Prominent among the structures uncovered at this site was a ceremonial pre- cinct centered around a sunken patio bordered by walls of finely cut travertine blocks dated by the excavators to about 900 B.C. On top of these walls once sat four

upside-down, T-shaped monolithic monuments. The ceremonial precinct also contained a small colossal head

dating to about 700 B.C. The four T-shaped monu-

ments, one of which still shows traces of red pigment, bear the carved images of front-facing Olmec-style supernaturals (fig. 4). Remarkably, the excavators uncovered beneath the travertine walls an earlier cere-

monial precinct constructed of adobe walls and deco- rated staircases dating from 1400 to 900 B.C. The

positioning of monuments carved in the Olmec style above these adobe structures demonstrates that com-

plex ceremonialism developed in the highlands at the same time as it did in the Olmec Heartland.13

Purported to have been discovered at a Heartland location and presently dated to about 800 B.C., Prince- ton's Shaman in Transformation Pose is a portrait of a

kneeling, unclothed man, with no attempt to indicate

genitalia.14 At some point in its history, the statuette of the religious practitioner was coated in a red, cinnabar- derived pigment. Traces of this pigmentation can be seen on all areas of the stone figure, except where a now-vanished kilt or loin cloth of perishable material and eye inlays once protected the stone (see cover illus-

tration).15 The torso of the figure leans slightly forward, its weight distributed along the delicately shaped clavi-

7

Figure 6. Shaman in Transformation Pose: back view.

cles and slightly bent arms to the hands resting on the knees (fig. 5). The pectoral muscles are subtly indicated. The shoulder blades seem tensed by the demands of both the forward-leaning posture and the effort to maintain the head upraised (fig. 6). Such a position could indicate the subject is about to rise from his knees. The calves are bent back under the thighs and the soles of the feet are pressed up against the flat, some- what spread buttocks. The buttocks, the right lower back, and the left groin area are marked by drill holes. The function of these drill holes is unknown but may relate to the garment that once encircled the waist. The lack of naturalism in the rendering of the fingers and toes compared to the artistic efforts extended to

the facial features characterizes Olmec sculpture's em-

phasis on details of the head over those of other areas of the body.

The fine head of the Princeton Shaman (fig. 7) reveals the charismatic personality. The features are dominated

by sunken, almond-shaped eyes that were originally inlaid with pyrite, magnetite, or obsidian. One of the

properties of these materials is a reflective ability that,

particularly in firelight, would have provided drama and magic to the piece. The sunken eyes do not seem to

portray emaciation but direct the viewer's attention to the statuette's state of self-reflection. The effect of spiri- tuality would be even more powerful with the eye inlays still in place.

8

Figure 5. Shaman in Transformation Pose: side view.

reveal the supernatural creature beneath.6 While agree-

ing with this interpretation, in the case of the Princeton

Shaman, I believe the naked pate has a secondary func- tion: as a billboard on which to display symbolic infor-

'Figure" l 9 . 7mation. In this instance, the symbolic information is

conveyed by an incised toad with a protruding tongue (fig. 8). The presence of this toad motif has led some

'e pt 'n a e s r r . scholars to describe Princeton's statuette as an Olmec

shaman transforming into a toad.17 I think this toad motif is a "symbolic verb" that defines the ritual action of the statuette as an act of transformation.

In this context, a study of the living marine toad

(Bufo mariniis), the most likely candidate for the motif, carve in shao s "d ois useful. It can also tell us if the toad motif was

employed as a symbol for a transformation act induced

proceF~s;s; i wby psychopharmacological substances.

*i E The identification of the toad on the Princeton Sha- .

tS ;-man's scalp as a Bufo marinus is predicated on the recog- ji_ ' ': nition of the swollen spherical-shaped structures behind

the incised toad's eyes as paratoid glands (fig. 9). Figure 7. Shaman in Transformation Pose: close-up view of However, almost all overt depictions of the Bufo mari- facial features.

The tautness of the forehead's skin is accentuated by '". i the pronounced and arched superciliary ridges. The

chin, which is broken, in all likelihood was once '

covered with the same small beard found on other stat- ; '

uettes of similar composition, size, and function. The r finely chiseled, tensed muscles around the mouth give

the impression that the heavy, slightly parted lips are , :; about to speak. The facial planes, cheekbones, andX .

barely flared nostrils of the Roman nose are also exe- {' cuted with supreme delicacy and skill. The Princeton

Shaman's great personal charisma is, in fact, an impor- . tant function of the statuette.

The dome-shaped head is somewhat flattened at the !

back, but not enough to indicate any skull deformation. The ears protrude a little and display anatomical details carved in shallow relief. The pate is bald, or, more

likely, shaved. The hair that brackets the scalp is incised in lines and arranged or zoned in two layers. It has been . _ suggested that the naked pate is part of a transformation Figure 8. Shaman in Transformation Pose: head showing the

process in which the subject's skin is peeled away to incised toad.

9

Figure 9. Bufo marinus: the paratoid glands are located right behind the eyes. From Roger Caras, Venomous Animals of the World, line drawings by Theodore Xaras (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1974), I35. (drawing: Gillett G. Griffin)

nus in Mesoamerican art show the heavily pitted surface of the paratoid glands, through which the psychophar- macological substances that are so important for sha- manistic transformation in several areas of the Americas are excreted.18 It could be, therefore, that because these

pits are not depicted on the Princeton toad the struc- tures identified as paratoid glands are, in fact, simply the toad's upper legs. But since either interpretation is

possible, they could, however, be the hallucinogen- producing paratoid glands.

The use of Bufo marinus-derived hallucinogens in ancient American shamanistic rites of transformation has been explored recently in several landmark studies

by Peter T. Furst and Alison B. Kennedy.19 Kennedy, in

particular, is intrigued with exploring possible prepara- tory methods used by Mesoamerican shamans to allow the safe consumption of the poisonous toad venom.20 That such methods were mastered by the Heartland Olmec and other participants in the Formative Period Ceremonial Complex is revealed by the deposits of

Figure IO. Zoomorphic toad pottery vessel, Olmec style, Rio Balsas area. Private collection. (drawing: Gillett G. Griffin)

disarticulated and cached Bufo marinus bones found at the Heartland site of San Lorenzo by Michael Coe and by the several Olmec-style art objects bearing the

image of the Bufo marinus originating in non- Heartland areas.21

Among these objects is the important zoomorphic, stirrup-spouted pottery bowl found in the Rio Balsas area (fig. Io). This image of a Bufo marinus stands on its haunches and holds a shallow bowl on its upraised front

legs. Behind the protruding eyes bulge the pitted para- toid glands that secrete the substances perhaps once stored in such a vessel. The toad-shaped vessel is molded so that the upraised legs serve as hollow con- duits between the shallow bowl and the hollow body of the toad, the vessel thus functioning as a chalice and the toad as a reservoir and symbol of the substance con- tained within. Under the rim of the upraised bowl is carved a design of Olmec-style, frontally faced, cleft- headed figures with trident-shaped mouths (fig. II) that flank one set of lazy-S, or figure eight, elements and

IO

Figure . Design carved under the rim of the shallow bowl of the zoomorphic toad pottery vessel in fig. . (drawing: Gillett G. Griffin) Figure ii. Design carved under the rim of the shallow bowl of the zoomorphic toad pottery vessel in fig. 10. (drawing: Gillett G. Griffin)

one interlace, or interlocking knot, motif positioned opposite the toads' faces.22 While the interlace motif is

puzzling, the lazy-S, because of its use as a water

symbol on several monuments at the highland site of

Chalcatzingo,23 suggests the liquid nature of the sub- stance held in the vessel. There is no way of telling if that liquid had psychopharmacological properties, but the pitted surface of the paratoid glands on the vessel

strongly evinces that it had. The motif of a stripe, which is shared by the Rio

Balsas toad pot, the Princeton Shaman toad, and the

Bufo marinus, can be seen on the backs of all three. On the living animal, a split or tear develops along this

stripe when the toad enters a transformational or

moulting state. On the Princeton Shaman this split is

represented as an elongated diamond bracketed by crosshatched elements. The adult Bufo marinus moults

approximately six times a year.24 When moulting begins the split appears at a point just behind the eyes and

quickly extends down the midline of the back, around the tail, along the belly, and across the chest and front limbs. This splitting pattern allows the toad to swallow its skin while the skin is still attached. Because the

Bufo's outer dermal layer is attached directly to its mouth lining, it allows the toad to swallow its skin in a series of slow gulps.25 The identical split on the head of the Princeton Shaman toad signals that the shaman him- self is engaged in a transformational action. Whether the incised toad motif also signals the use of a Bufo marinus-derived psychopharmacological substance has

yet to be proved, but the archaeological and icono-

graphic evidence suggests that this was the case.

Fortunately, the Princeton Shaman is not the only example of an Olmec-style transformation figure. The

largest number of Olmec transformation figures on

public display are the three in the Dumbarton Oaks

collection, two of which were described by Peter T. Furst in his 1968 landmark article on the Olmec were-

jaguar motif.26 The third and most important figure for this discussion was described and analyzed by Elizabeth Benson in I98I.27 The statuette described by Benson is

commonly known as the Hauberg-Dumbarton Oaks

figure (fig. 12). Benson and David Joralemon believe there is a strong possibility that the hand that carved the Hauberg-Dumbarton Oaks figure also carved the

Figure 12. Hauberg-Dumbarton Oaks kneeling were-jaguar, Olmec style. Serpentine, with traces of red pigment, h. 19 cm. Robert Woods Bliss Collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

II

Princeton Shaman.28 The figures have the same kneeling postures and similar treatments of musculature and hair arrangement, and both bear traces of cinnabar pigment. However, unlike the Princeton Shaman's damaged chin, the Hauberg-Dumbarton Oaks figure's chin is com-

plete and equipped with a small beard. Other features of the two statues could not be less similar. Whereas the Princeton Shaman is the portrait of a charismatic person whose ability to transform himself is signaled by the incised toad on his scalp, the Hauberg-Dumbarton Oaks figure is the depiction of a person whose transfor- mation process is so advanced that only his torso, legs, and ears are human. A second set of feline ears can be seen on the top of the head; the nostrils are thickened into a snout. Two fangs descend from an otherwise toothless mouth. The superciliary area has instead of

eyebrows an incised motif resembling the "flame eye- brows" common to Olmec supernaturals. The scalp, lacking the incised toad of the Princeton Shaman, is marked by a faint cleft or head furrow, a standard feline attribute.29 However, the enormous tear that rips through the skin from shoulder to shoulder appears to function in the same syntactical manner as the incised toad with its moulting tear on the head of the Princeton Shaman.30 The continuous line of this tear extends above the clavicles across the base of the neck where it dips into a U-shaped cleft (fig. 13). Through this tear the

supernatural feline head emerges. This tear pattern, like the incised toad on the head of the Princeton Shaman, resembles the shedding skin of the Bufo marinus (fig. I4), another striking similarity between the two figures. Obviously, the Hauberg-Dumbarton Oaks figure with its mix of human and feline features is a human being transforming into some form of a feline supernatural -

possibly a were-jaguar.31 When the Princeton Shaman and the Hauberg-Dum-

barton Oaks figure are arranged in a transformation

sequence with four other statuettes, three of which have been identified by Furst as transformation figures (figs. 15 a-c and I6 a-c),32 all six look like illustrations from an old-fashioned flip book or, better still, individ- ual frames from a film clip of the transformation se-

quence in a I930s were-wolf film. As in the clever

Figure 13. Hauberg-Dumbarton Oaks kneeling were-jaguar: view of tear or rip extending across the shoulders and around the front of the neck.

:01 , I - ~ "~:?:

Figure 14. The shed skin of a toad. From Mary C. Dickerson, The Frog Book: North American Toads and Frogs, with a Study of the Habits and Life Histories of those of the Northeast (Garden City, I931), fig. 43.

12

Figure ISa. Kneeling Statue of a Bearded Man, Figure Olmec style. Stone, h. 25 cm. J. C. Leff Col- Transfo lection, Denver Art Museum, Colorado.

transformation sequences created by Hollywood's best

makeup artists, an unaffected human figure is seen first

(fig. I5a). The statuette, which is from the J. C. Leff Collection, is the largest and depicts a bearded, long- haired kneeling man. Now in the Denver Art Museum, but thought to have been found in the Mexican state of Puebla, this kneeling figure is postured in the same way as the Princeton Shaman and the Hauberg-Dumbarton Oaks figure, with both hands on the knees. The facial features of the Leff statuette are detailed, though not as

finely carved as those of the Princeton Shaman, and the overall musculature resembles those of the other two

sculptures but is executed in a somewhat blocky style. However, the Leff statuette shows no obvious evidence of transformation action. Next is the Princeton Shaman

(fig. ISb), which, as previously noted, has begun the act of transformation, most likely through the charismatic

power of the sitter, perhaps aided by a drop or two of

isb. rmati

Shaman in Figure ISc. Hauberg-Dumbarton ion Pose. Oaks kneeling were-jaguar.

distilled toad venom. The Hauberg-Dumbarton Oaks

figure (fig. I5C) follows, the supernatural feline features

indicating that the act of transformation is well under

way. The skin of the human subject is splitting and

tearing, allowing the emergence of the supernatural feline beneath.

The three kneeling statuettes are very similar in exe- cution and body posture and two, at least, bear traces of the original red pigment. In fact, their overall similari- ties are striking enough to suggest that they are prod- ucts of the same sculptural tradition, and, in the case of the Princeton Shaman and the Hauberg-Dumbarton Oaks figure, perhaps of the same workshop. The next series of statuettes are alike in thematic content but different in composition and style of carving from the

previous three. First in this series is a statuette (fig. i6a) carved from a dark green serpentine and bearing traces of red cinnabar in several of the incised body creases.

13

Reported to be from the Heartland area, this were-

jaguar statuette is a part of the Constance McCormick

Fearing Collection now housed in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Fearing were-jaguar is in the act of rising from the kneeling position of the

preceding three statuettes. However, unlike these stat- uettes with their full heads of hair or shaved scalps, the

Fearing were-jaguar has carved on the back of its head a

scalping line; the face and scalp, in fact, have been "carved away in order to reveal the jaguar beneath."33 The next were-jaguar statuette in this sequence is from the Dumbarton Oaks collection (fig. I6b). Like the

Fearing were-jaguar, this Dumbarton Oaks figure also has a flayed head and supernatural feline features and bears traces of red cinnabar. It has completed the rising action begun by the Fearing were-jaguar and stands

fully erect with hands balled up and held in front of the

body like a boxer's. Finally, the act of transformation is

accomplished (fig. I6c) in the Dumbarton Oaks stand-

ing jaguar statuette with its switching tail, truly a were-

jaguar.34 Nothing human remains except the boxer's stance, which is identical to that of the transformation statuette preceding it. Both these figures bear traces of red cinnabar in the incised lines on their surfaces. In this

grouping, the general similarity in carving style, the use of the same extremely dark green serpentine, and the

purported discovery of all three statuettes in the Olmec Heartland strongly indicate that if they were not carved

by the same hand they were probably created in the same workshop.35

What do the incised toad on the Princeton Shaman, the sequence of transformation figures, and the traces of red cinnabar on five - and possibly all - of the transfor- mation figures suggest about the relationship between art and rulership in Olmec civilization? The incised toad indicates that the Olmec iconographic symbols were more than ideographic representations of zoo-

morphic supernaturals; they also fulfilled a syntactical function to locate action and place36 Transformation

figures played an important role in depictions of Olmec ritual. They also can be analyzed as a series of stages within a single ritual act.37 This does not imply that the works of art in the sequence illustrated here were cre-

Figure i6a. Were-Jaguar Figure Kneeling on One Leg, Olmec

style. Serpentine, with traces of red pigment, h. ii cm. Con- stance McCormick Fearing Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

ated by a single artist or were ever displayed as a group. However, such groupings can be attributed to specific stylistic workshops and, in rare instances, to particular artists within those workshops. They demonstrate the existence of an Olmec artistic canon for depictions of the transformation ritual that can be compared to Euro-

pean paintings of the Roman Catholic Mass where the entire religious ceremony is represented in a single rit- ual moment. It is possible to take a number of these

paintings from different periods and by different artists and follow the ceremony of the Mass through sequen- tial ritual moments, including the reading of the gospel,

14

Figure I6b. Standing Were-Jaguar, Olmec style. Serpentine, h. I8.8 cm. Robert Woods Bliss Collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

the general confession, the elevation of the Host, the act of taking communion, and the final blessing. Certainly, these paintings were not displayed together but they clearly are the result of an artistic canon. The traces of red cinnabar signify that if the figures were not created as grave furniture, they were used in the funeral ritual and placed in the grave, until recently their last resting place. The excavations at the important Heartland site La Venta revealed that elite burials were covered with a

coating of red cinnabar. Moreover, excavations con- ducted by David Grove at Chalcatzingo showed that red

pigment differentiated the graves of elite individuals

Figure I6c. Standing Jaguar, Olmec style. Serpentine, h. 8 cm. Robert Woods Bliss Collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Washing- ton, D.C.

from those of less exalted status.38 This would suggest that these objects were at one time located in tombs of the Formative period elite and that were-jaguar trans- formation was a magical ability reserved to the elite. The elite context also tends to support a hypothesis of Michael Coe, who, in attempting to reconstruct Olmec

religion, determined "that the main point of [Olmec] theogony was to confirm royal power" and that

shaman-jaguar transformation played a large part, not

only in the religion, but also in the confirmation of

"royal power."39 Since were-jaguar transformation

figures come from both the Olmec Heartland and the

I5

highland regions, the rituals they record must have been of central importance to the elites who partici- pated in the Formative Period Ceremonial Complex.

Why was ritual transformation so important to these Formative period elites? It is now recognized that cap- ture and sacrifice and ancestor communication were the

great ritual acts that supported the office of ruler among the ancient Maya.40 It has also recently been demon- strated that bloodletting played a significant role in the Formative Period Ceremonial Complex as well.41

For the Maya ruler sacrifice and bloodletting had a twofold purpose: to nourish the gods, who in turn would nourish humans, and to open a portal in the invisible membrane that separated the natural and

supernatural worlds. This portal, or hole, allowed access to a crucial source of royal power: ancestors. Ancestor communication was achieved when the portal was opened through bloodletting. Bloodletting was also the medium through which ancestors manifested themselves on earth.42 Artistic evidence reveals that

bloodletting opened the otherworld portal for the Olmec rulers, as well. Although, unlike the Maya rulers, Olmec rulers iconography indicates journeyed to that otherworld, not the ancestors to earth.

The evidence for such an interpretation is a category of carved, horizontal figures known as Olmec "flyers": human beings dressed in ceremonial costumes who hold torches ahead of them in their outstretched hands. The best example of these "flyers" is Chalcatzingo, Monument 12 (fig. I7),43 which shows such a figure carved on the boulder monument. The images of birds above and below the flyer further support the hypothe- sis that the figure is flying. I belive that Chalcatzingo, Monument 12 and the other Olmec flyers illustrate the Olmec ruler in the act of crossing, or flying, through the open portal into the otherworld.

If the Olmec flyers symbolize the flight of the ruler

through the otherworld portal, the transformation

figures represent some of the supernatural actions needed to ensure the success of such a journey. This is

supported by the Olmec-style paintings found inJuxla- huaca cave, Guerrero, which describe both the other- world and the costume worn by the chief participant in

Figure 17. Chalcatzingo, Monument 12, Olmec style. Bas-relief on naturally occurring boulder. Chalcatzingo, Morelos, Mexico.

the ritual of crossing to the otherworld. TheJuxlahuaca cave paintings were long known to residents of the

surrounding area but were first brought to the attention of the American public in I967 in articles published after a visit to the cave by Carlo Gay and Gillett Griffin.44 Gay described the paintings located deep underground in the Hall of the Ritual more than a half mile from the cave entrance. The most important one for this discussion is Painting No. 1 (fig. I8), which shows two people dressed in elaborate costumes

engaged in what can only be identified as ritual activity. The taller, standing figure holds in his left hand a rope that leads to the smaller, kneeling figure facing him. In his right hand he clasps a badly obscured trident-shaped lance or knife, which does not bode well for the kneel-

ing figure at whom it is pointed. The standing figure wears an elaborate headdress and a striped tunic. His arms and legs are covered in jaguar skin and he has a

jaguar tail that is seen swinging below the hemline of the tunic. The underground location of this painting signifies that it concerns the Underworld and, thus, the otherworld. The kneeling man held by the rope is most

probably the captive, by whose blood the portal to the

supernatural will open. The jaguar costume elements worn by the dominant figure demonstrate the precau-

tions that must be taken by the ruler if he is successfully to cross through that portal and return.

We have discussed the role that shaman-jaguar trans- formation played in the charter of Olmec rulership. The Princeton Shaman and other transformation figures, along with the jaguar-costumed man in Juxlahuaca cave, also demonstrate that the Formative period ruler needed to transform into a magical creature to over- come the dangers on his journey to the otherworld. The identity of that magical creature, demonstrated by the feline features on transformation figures, was the

were-jaguar. Although transformation and flying into other

realms are associated with shamanistic activities in

nearly all areas of the world,45 shamanism generally is

Figure I8. Painting No. i, Olmec style. Polychrome, h. 1.65 m. Juxlahuaca cave, Guerrero, Mexico. (drawing: Gillett G. Griffin)

exercised by religious practitioners in band or tribal social organizations and is not generally associated with

rulership in more complex societies. Archaeological and ethnological proof of shamanism in Mesoamerica is not as strong as it is in other regions of the Americas, but enough evidence of it remains to indicate its

importance in that cultural area.47 Transformation and otherworld flying were the

province of charismatic shamans in Mesoamerica long before the rise of Heartland Olmec civilization and the Formative Period Ceremonial Complex. People who,

by whatever method, exercised shamanistic power derived their power from personal charisma. The

Olmec-style transformation figures examined here indicate that shamanistic paths to power not only sur- vived into Formative period Mesoamerican religion but

played a major role in a political system that might be called state shamanism. This state shamanism provided the charter for Formative period rulership but also defined the ruler's part in terms of his shamanistic attributes. This does not mean that he held a monopoly on shamanistic power, but that, like the Chinese

emperor during the Shang Dynasty, he was the chief shaman.48 He had this position because of his hereditary relationship to the ancestors of the ruling lineage in his

political unit.49 It is difficult to say exactly where this

hereditary position was first accepted, but current

archaeological evidence points to the Olmec Heartland. Here the earliest and largest stone monuments were

raised, among which were the colossal stone heads that are human portraits, not depictions of supernaturals. The ability to muster a massive labor force is also first demonstrated in Mesoamerica at San Lorenzo with the construction of the great earthen platform on which the site was located. However, the fact that a ceremonial

precinct was constructed and used at the highland site of Teopantecuanitlan at a very early date suggests that a

complex central authority was at work there at approxi- mately the same time if not earlier.

The Formative period was not alone in its develop- ment of a system of state shamanism. Recent articles by David Freidel and Linda Schele trace similar shamanis- tic survivals in the later Maya political power struc-

17

.)

ture.50 This shows that the Heartland Olmec and other Formative period rulers as well as the Classic Maya kings gained their office not through personal charisma alone but through their blood relationship to the ances- tors with whom they communicated in order to rule.

The commanding features of the Princeton Shaman demonstrate the personal charisma that was a power source for shamans and for hereditary Olmec and even-

tually other Formative period rulers.51 However, as in ancient China, at some time the source of the ruler's charisma began to derive as much from his hereditary position as from his charismatic personality.52

In conclusion, within the Formative period social

order, the purpose of works of art like Princeton's Shaman was permanently to record the ruler's ability to

perform the rituals that chartered and sanctified his rule. Such works of art must have been perceived as

magical objects, and by capturing rulership rituals in

NOTES

I would like to thank Gillett G. Griffin, research curator of pre- Columbian and Native art, The Art Museum, Princeton Univer-

sity, for inviting me to write this article. I am also grateful to Laura Mae Wooddy and Michael Scanlon for their advice on several of the topics discussed in the article. Finally, I wish to express my appreciation to Linda Schele, David Grove, Susan Gillespie, and Brian Stross, whose work in pre-Columbian iconography and

linguistics has inspired so much of my own Olmec work.

I. "Olmec Jaguars and Olmec Kings," in The Cult of the Feline, ed. Elizabeth P. Benson (Washington, D.C., 1972), II.

2. Shaman in Transformation Pose, polished gray stone with traces of cinnabar, h. I7.5, w. I5.5, d. 9 cm. (76-21), was acquired with a gift of funds from Mrs. Gerard B. Lambert. The statuette is said to be from the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz.

3. The history of Mesoamerican civilization is divided into several time periods. The period in which the Olmec culture flourished is labeled the Formative or Preclassic period (1500 B.C.-A.D. 150). The lack of archaeological antecedents for the Olmec has long been a puzzle to scholars of the ancient American past. At present the Olmec are by consensus con- sidered the earliest expression in Mesoamerica of that rare

commodity in human history-Civilization. 4. The term "Mesoamerica" was first used by the anthropologist

Paul Kirchhoff in 1952 to describe the geographic area in Mexico and Central America that he believed was unified by

stone the permanence of those rituals was insured. The Princeton Shaman is thus not only a great work of art but an example of political propaganda. As a work of

art, the Princeton Shaman records a human ruler's charismatic power with great skill. As a work of polit- ical propaganda, it reveals the importance of this per- sonal charisma to the charter of Formative period rulership. The importance of personal charisma also

explains the strong tradition of portraiture early in the

development of Olmec-style art. The elite mortuary context of such transformation figures as Princeton's Shaman suggests that the figures were visual manifesta- tions of the rituals by which the status of Formative

period rulers was publicly sanctified. This context also makes clear the figures' ultimate function as both a visual testament to the supernatural power of the tomb's elite occupant and a permanent, magical pass- port for that person's final journey into the otherworld.

a shared culture. Among the representative traits that defined this Mesoamerican culture Kirchhoff listed: an agricultural economy based on a plant triad of corn, beans, and squash; a

complex calendric and mathematical system; hieroglyphic writing in books made from bark paper obtained from the ficus tree; an advanced knowledge of observational astron-

omy; a ballgame played with a rubber ball; and a shared system of religious belief expressed through a similar world view. Paul Kirchhoff, "Meso-America," in Heritage of Conquest, ed. Sol Tax (Glencoe, Ill., I952), 17-30.

5. Archaeological investigations conducted at San Lorenzo by Michael Coe and Richard Diehl in I966-68 found the earliest evidence of Olmec culture so far discovered in the Heartland area. One of the amazing discoveries was that the site itself was a huge series of artificial mounds and ridges stretching more than three quarters of a mile atop a hill in the Rio Cotalzacoalcos flood plain. The reader is referred to the book coauthored by the investigators that describes these dis- coveries, Michael Coe and Richard Diehl, In the Land of the Olmec, 2 vols. (Austin, Tex., I980).

6. Coe has carefully defined the several attributes of the Olmec

style in "The Olmec Style and Its Distribution," in The Hand- book of Middle American Indians, ed. Robert Wauchope (Austin, Tex., I965), vol. 3, pt. 3, 739-75. Our current under-

standing of Olmec iconography has evolved from two

ground-breaking articles by David Joralemon of Yale Univer- sity: "A Study of Olmec Iconography," in Studies in Pre- Columbian Art and Archaeology, No. 7, ed. Elizabeth P. Benson

(Washington, D.C., 1971), 5-95; "The Olmec Dragon: A

Study In Pre-Columbian Iconography," in Origins of Religious Art and Iconography in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica, ed. H. B. Nicholson (Los Angeles, 1976), 27-71.

7. Present theories include the military conquest of a large part of southern Mesoamerica by the Heartland Olmec (Ignacio Bernal, The Olmec World [Berkeley, 1969], 188-89) and a mis-

sionary movement that spread the Olmec religion and its icon-

ographic system throughout the same area (Michael D. Coe, Mexico [New York, I984], 67).

8. The role of trade in Mesoamerica has been examined by many authors. The exchange network model that seems most suited to the Olmec situation was developed by Kent V. Flannery in his article, "The Olmec and the Valley of Oaxaca: A Model for

InterRegional Interaction in Formative Times," in Dumbarton Oaks Conference on the Olmec, ed. Elizabeth P. Benson (Wash- ington, D.C., 1968), 79-II0. Flannery's archaeological survey in the Valley of Etla provided much of the data for his study, including the fact that the magnetite mirrors found at Heart- land sites had been made at such Oaxaca sites as San Jose Mogote. Flannery also uncovered several varieties of marine shells and carved jade objects that originated in the lowlands. In his article, Flannery argued that the exchange network between the Heartland Olmec and other areas of Mesoamerica

depended just as much on the status-enhancing value of the goods as on the quality of the goods themselves.

9. Miguel Covarrubias early argued for a Guerrero genesis for the Olmec, based on the many portable jade objects carved in the Olmec style found in that West coast Mexican state. Co- varrubias's conclusions have been supported by Gillett Griffin of The Art Museum, Princeton University, and the noted Olmec scholar Carlo Gay. David C. Grove of the University of Illinois initiated a new definition of Olmec in his article, "The Highland Olmec Manifestation: A Consideration of What It Is and Isn't," in Mesoamerican Archaeology: New Ap- proaches, ed. Norman Hammond (Austin, Tex., 1974), 109- 128.

io. The term Formative Period Ceremonial Complex is a bypro- duct of several long discussions I held with David Grove and Susan Gillespie on a visit to their home in November 1989. We

agreed that the archaeological model that best described what we believed happened in Formative Mesoamerica was the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. This label is used to de- scribe the art style and ritual activity associated with it pro- duced by the cultures of the eastern United States during the

Mississippian period (Iooo-I600 A.D.). ii. F. Kent Reilly, "Olmec Influences on Maya Iconography: An

Examination of Possible Sources," in Sexta Mesa Redonda de

Palenque (Norman, Okla., in press). 12. Gillett Griffin, Michael Scanlon, Mimi Crossley, Logan

Wagner, D. J. and Jane Sibley, and I were given permission to visit this very important archaeological site by the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia in Mexico in December 1985. This permission was obtained for us through the efforts

of Logan Wagner. While at Teopantecuanitlan we were gra- ciously received and conducted through the ruins by the site director, Guadalupe Martinez Donjuan.

13. Guadalupe Martinez Donjuan describes these adobe structures and her excavations at Teopantecuanitlan in two articles: "El Sitio Olmeca de Teopantecuanitlan en Guerrero: Un Sito Olmeca," in Anales de Antropologfa, vol. 22 (Mexico, 1985), 215-26; "Teopantecuanitlan," in Arqueologica y Etnohistoia del Estado Guerrero (Mexico, I986), 55-77.

14. Sex is rarely indicated in Olmec-style human depictions, though some figurines from the Heartland illustrate the male sex. The reason for this is still a matter of speculation.

I5. Elizabeth P. Benson was the first to suggest in print that Olmec statues may have been clothed (Elizabeth P. Benson, "An Olmec Figure at Dumbarton Oaks," in Studies in Pre- Columbian Art and Archaeology, No. 8 [Washington, D.C., 1971], 5-39). A strong tradition of clothing statues exists

throughout Mesoamerican history. It continues today in Mexico, where many statues of saints own large and elaborate wardrobes.

16. Peter T. Furst, "The Olmec Were-Jaguar Motif in the Light of

Ethnographic Reality," Dumbarton Oaks Conference on the Olmec, 151.

17. Elizabeth P. Benson cites these scholars in her article, "Some Olmec Objects in the Robert Woods Bliss Collection at Dum- barton Oaks," in The Olmec and Their Neighbors: Essays in

Memory of Matthew Sterling, ed. Elizabeth P. Benson (Wash- ington, D.C., I98I), 107.

18. The paratoid glands of the Bufo marinus and their poisonous qualities are fully discussed in Roger Caras, Venomous Animals

of the World (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1974), 134-38. I9. Peter T. Furst, "Jaguar Baby or Toad Mother: A New Look at

an Old Problem in Olmec Iconography," in The Olmec and Their Neighbors: Essays in Memory of Matthew Stirling, 149-62; idem, "Symbolism and Psychopharmacology: The Toad as Earth Mother in Indian America," Religion en Mesoamerica, XII Mesa Redonda (Mexico, I972), 37-46; and Alison B.

Kennedy, "Ecce Bufo: The Toad in Nature and Olmec Icon- ography," Current Anthropology 23 (June 1982): 273-90.

20. One of Kennedy's suggested methods was to feed the Bufo marinus first to ducks whose livers would filter out most of the

poison. The duck flesh could then be eaten for the desired hallucinogenic effect (Kennedy, "Ecce Bufo," 285-86).

21. Coe discusses these disarticulated and cached Bufo marinus bones in In the Land of the Olmec, 390. Among the several Olmec-style art objects depicting toads are a small, incised magnetite toad pectoral from Guerrero, now in a private col- lection, and the large boulder carving (Monument 6) at Tzut- zuculi on the Chiapas Coast.

22. The symbolic function of the interlace motif is unclear because of its amazing similarity to the symbol for gold in the Post- classic period codices. Andrea Stone of the department of art history, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, brought to my attention the interlace motif that appears on one of the gold

19

masks dredged up from the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza. Stone commented that in the Formative period the interlace motif may have carried the meaning of precious or sacred, which would apply to gold in the Postclassic period as well.

23. In Chalcatzingo Monuments I and 2, the lazy-S, or figure eight, could very well be a water symbol. In the sculptural group commonly known as Chalcatzingo Monuments ii, 8, I4, I5, 7, and 6, the symbolism is certain. In this sequence, saurians are positioned atop the lazy-S. From their mouths double scrolls of water are blown up toward clouds from which rain falls. Beneath them are carved squash plants. Their

posture matches that of crocodillians engaged in "water danc-

ing." In water dancing, the male crocodillian must belly-down in shallow water, lift his head and arch his tail (sometimes wagging his tail like a dog) and puff up his throat. This is

exactly the posture of the saurian-like creatures depicted in the

Chalcatzingo bas-reliefs. However, the Chalcatzingo water is

represented by the lazy-S water symbol. The act of water

dancing occurs, in nature, when, from the crocodillian's closed mouth and puffed up throat, a booming roar emerges that sounds like distant thunder. The vibrations of this boom- ing set the water to "dancing" all about the crocodillian's head. 24. Kennedy, "Ecce Bufo," 281.

25. Ibid., 282.

26. Furst, "The Olmec Were-Jaguar Motif in the Light of Ethno-

graphic Reality," 148-52. 27. Benson, "Some Olmec Objects in the Robert Woods Bliss

Collection at Dumbarton Oaks," I05-8. 28. Ibid., 107. Gillett Griffin informed me of David Joralemon's

belief. 29. Numerous Olmec scholars have equated this feline head

furrow with the cleft seen on many heads in Olmec art. 30. Benson, "Some Olmec Objects in the Robert Woods Bliss

Collection at Dumbarton Oaks," io6. 3I. The jaguar was proposed as the dominant theme in Olmec art

early in the history of Olmec studies. This jaguar identifica- tion began to broaden through the arguments of Olmec schol- ars such as Michael Coe, DavidJoralemon, and Gillett Griffin, and with the publication of an article by two students of David Grove that first identified the pervasive presence of the saurian image in Olmec art, Michael Muse and Terry Stocker, "The Cult of the Cross: Interpretations in Olmec Iconography," Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society 5 (Spring 1974): 67-98.

Since the appearance of the Muse and Stocker article, most Olmec scholars have come to recognize that many Olmec zoomorphic representations are derived from animals other than the jaguar.

32. Furst, "The Olmec Were-Jaguar Motif in the Light of Ethno- graphic Reality," 148-52.

33. Ibid., I5I. 34. The magnetite eye inlays are still in place on this last and

smallest statuette in the sequence. Drill holes in the hands and

feet indicate that they, too, probably held reflective pieces of

magnetite. 35. The two Dumbarton Oaks were-jaguar statuettes in this series

are thought to have been found together. Samuel K. Lothrop, W. F. Foshag, and Joy Mahler, Pre-Columbian Art: The Robert Woods Bliss Collection (New York, 1957), 234. If this is true, it would lend support to my argument that transformation de-

pictions in Olmec art were often created in series. 36. These are "symbolic locatives" within the Olmec "symbolic

grammar." Their role was visually to identify in which of the three layers of the universe-celestial, terrestrial, or the under- world-a particular action was taking place. For a more com-

plete discussion of Olmec "symbolic grammar," see Reilly, "Olmec Influences on Maya Iconography."

37. Linda Schele has demonstrated the sequential aspect of Maya sculptures that depict ritual moments in the accession ceremo- nies. Linda Schele and Mary Ellen Miller, The Blood of Kings: Ritual and Dynasty in Maya Art (New York, 1986), II6.

38. That red pigment indicated status in the mortuary complex at

Chalcatzingo is discussed by Marcia Merry De Morales in her article, "Chalcatzingo Burials as Indicators of Social Rank- ing," in Ancient Chalcatzingo, ed. David C. Grove (Austin, Tex., 1987), 95-II3.

39. Michael D. Coe, "Olmec Jaguars and Olmec Kings," I-I2. Coe's hypothesis that Olmec rulership was "royal" and here- ditary has had its detractors, but it has stood the test of time and is gaining more support as the rulership emphasis of Olmec iconography is better understood.

40. The importance of these ritual acts is fully explained in Schele and Miller, The Blood of Kings, I75-240.

41. It has long been recognized that bloodletting played a cere- monial role among the Olmec based on the depiction of human sacrifice on Chalcatzingo Monument 2 and from the many jade items known to be bloodletters. Its dominant role has been recognized in two articles by David Grove and his students at the University of Illinois (R. Joyce, R. Edging, K. Lorenz, and S. Gillespie, "Olmec Bloodletting: An Icono-

graphic Study," Sexta Mesa Redonda de Palenque; David Grove, "Torches, Knuckledusters and the Legitimization of Forma- tive Period Rulership," Mexicon 9 [June 1987]: 420-33); and in the investigations of Brian Stross at the University of Texas at Austin (Brian Stross, "Bloodletting Iconography on an Olmec Vase and a Maya Plate" [Manuscript, anthropology depart- ment, University of Texas, Austin, 1986]).

42. See Schele and Miller, The Blood of Kings, I75-207, for a full discussion of Maya bloodletting and ancestor communication.

43. For a full discussion of Chalcatzingo Monument 12, see David C. Grove and Jorge Anguilo, "A Catalog and Description of Chalcatzingo's Monuments," in Ancient Chalcatzingo, ed. David C. Grove (Austin, Tex., 1987), 114-3I.

44. Carlo Gay first described these tremendously important cave paintings in his article, "Oldest Paintings in the New World," Natural History 76 (April 1967): 28-35. Gillett Griffin wrote of

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his experiences at Juxlahuaca cave in "Cave Trip Discloses Earliest American Art," University, no. 34 (Fall 1967): 6-9. Since the publications of Gay and Griffin, a second set of Guerrero cave paintings has been discovered at Oxtotitlan cave: David C. Grove, "The Olmec Paintings of Oxtotitlan Cave, Guerrero, Mexico," Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and

Archaeology, No. 6 (Washington, D.C., I970). 45. For a discussion of otherworld travel, ancestor communica-

tion, and the selection of shamanistic practitioners, see Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Bollingen Series 76 (Princeton, N.J., 1974), foreword, chaps. I, 3, 4, and 7.

46. An exception was the recent funeral in 1989 of the late em-

peror Showa (Hirohito) ofJapan, which emphasized the role shamanism plays in the political structure of at least one con-

temporary complex society. 47. Peter Furst is responsible for several of the most significant

studies on Mesoamerican shamanism. Furst believes that the best ethnographic evidence for shamanism in Mesoamerica is to be found in the culture of the Lacandon Maya and the Huichol Indians ("The Olmec Were-Jaguar Motif in the Light of Ethnographic Reality," I66). But Furst's investigation of tomb art in west Mexico leaves little doubt that shamanism was present in the ancient Mesoamerican past ("West Mexican Tomb Sculpture as Evidence for Shamanism in Prehispanic Mesoamerica," Antropologica, no. 15 (1965): 29-60.

48. K. C. Chang, a leading scholar of ancient China, gives conclu- sive evidence for the position of the Shang Dynasty Chinese

emperor as chief shaman in "Shamanism and Politics," Art, Myth and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China (Cambridge, Mass., 1983), 44-55.

49. Concurring with K. C. Chang's hypothesis, I believe that the Olmec ruling lineages gained their position through not only the control of prime agricultural lands, as Coe has suggested (Coe and Diehl, In the Land of the Olmnec 2: 147-50), but also the monopoly of charismatic power demonstrated by their

early leaders. 50. David Freidel and Linda Schele make a strong argument that

much of the charismatic power of the early Late Formative Maya rulers derived from political functions that were essen- tially shamanistic in origin, in "Kingship in the Late Preclassic Maya Lowlands: The Instruments and Places of Ritual Power," American Anthropologist 90 (September 1988): 547-67.

51. In a discussion at a conference given at Dumbarton Oaks in October 1970, Peter Furst proposed that shamanism might have played an important role in the political function of the Olmec ruler: "... the identification of the jaguar with the royal lineage might go back to the identification of jaguars with powerful shamans. Perhaps we can carry this a step further and suggest that the royal house were shamans..." (Coe, "OlmecJaguars and Olmec Kings," I6).

52. K. C. Chang, "Moral Authority and Coercive Power," Art, Myth and Ritual, 33-34, describes the joint role that personal merit and lineage leadership played as power sources for an- cient Chinese emperors.

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