Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T04:25:19.138Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

So-Called Jaguar-Human Copulation Scenes in Olmec Art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Whitney Davis
Whitney Davis*
Affiliation:
774 Wellington Street North, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3S3
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Three Olmec sculptures are frequently thought to represent copulation between human beings and jaguars, an important element in what we are able to reconstruct of Olmec belief, but evidence and parallels discussed here suggest that this interpretation of the sculptures is incorrect. Alternate explanations which are consistent with a new view would assign an aggressive, ritual, or allegorical meaning to these sculptures and to certain other related Olmec representations.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , July 1978 , pp. 453 - 457
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Bernal, Ignacio 1973 Stone reliefs in the Dainzu area. In The iconography of middle American sculpture, by Bernal, Ignacio et al., pp. 13–23. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.Google Scholar
Clewlow, Carl William 1974 A stylistic and chronological study of Olmec monumental sculpture. University of California Archaeological Research Facility, Contributions 19. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Clewlow, Carl William, and Corson, C. R. 1968 New stone monuments from La Venta, 1968. University of California Archaeological ResearchFacility, Contributions 5:171–182.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael 1962 Mexico. Frederick A. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael 1965a The Olmec style and its distribution. In Handbook of American Indians, edited by Willey, GordonR.,pp. 739–775. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael 1965b The jaguar's children: preclassic central Mexico. Museum of Primitive Art, New York.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael 1972 Olmec jaguars and Olmec kings. In The cult of the feline, edited by Benson, ElizabethP., pp. 1–12. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Coe, Michael 1973 The iconology of Olmec art. In The iconography of middle American sculpture, by Bernal, Ignacio et al., pp. 1–12. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.Google Scholar
Cook de Leonard, Carmen 1967 Sculptures and rock-carvings at Chalcatzingo, Morelos. University of California Archaeological Research Facility, Contributions 3:57–84.Google Scholar
Covarrubias, Miguel 1946 Mexico south: the isthmus of Tehuantepec. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.Google Scholar
Covarrubias, Miguel 1957 Indian art of Mexico and Central America. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.Google Scholar
Davis, Whitney M. 1976 The origin of register composition in predynastic Egyptian art. American Oriental Society, Journal 96:404–418.Google Scholar
Drucker, Philip P. 1952 A study of Olmec ceramics and art. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 153. Smithsonian Institution,Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Drucker, Philip P., Heizer, R.F., and Squier, R.J. 1959 Excavations at La Venta, Tabasco, 1955. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 170. SmithsonianInstitution, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Fuente, Beatriz de la 1973 Escultura monumental Olmeca: Catalogo. Institute de Investigaciones Estéticas, Mexico.Google Scholar
Gay, Carlo T. E. 1966 Rock carvings at Chalcacingo. Natural History 75:57–61.Google Scholar
Gay, Carlo T. E. 1971 Chalcacingo. Akademische Drück- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz.Google Scholar
Grove, David C. 1968a Chalcatzingo, Morelos: a reappraisal of the Olmec rock carvings. American Antiquity 33:486–91.Google Scholar
Grove, David C. 1968b The preclassic Olmec in central Mexico: site distribution and inferences. In Dumbarton Oaks conferenceon the Olmec, edited by Benson, ElizabethP., pp. 179–185. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Grove, David C. 1970 The Olmec paintings of Oxtotitlan Cave, Guerrero, Mexico. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology6. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Grove, David C. 1973 Olmec altars and myths. Archaeology 26:128–135.Google Scholar
Heizer, Robert F. 1962 The possible sociopolitical structure of the La Venta Olmec. In Akten des 34. Internationalen Amerikanistenkongresses, pp. 310–317. Verlag Ferdinand Berger, Vienna.Google Scholar
Heizer, Robert F. 1968 New observations on La Venta. In Dumbarton Oaks conference on the Olmec, edited by Benson, Elizabeth P., pp. 9–40. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Heizer, Robert F., and Drucker, P. 1968 The fluted pyramid of the La Venta site. Antiquity 42:52–56.Google Scholar
Heizer, Robert F., and Williams, H. 1965 Sources of rocks used in Olmec monuments. In Sources of stones used in prehistoric Mesoamericansites, edited by Heizer, RobertF., pp. 1–38. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Joralemon, Peter David 1971 A study of Olmec iconography. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology 7. Dumbarton OaksResearch Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Joralemon, Peter David 1976 The Olmec dragon: a study in pre-Columbian iconography. In Origins of religious art and iconographyin Preclassic Mesoamerica, edited by Nicholson, H.B., pp. 27–71. UCLA Latin American Centerand the Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles, Los Angeles. UCLA Latin American Studies 31.Google Scholar
Medellin Zenil, Alfonso 1960 Monolitos ineditos Olmecas. La Palabra y el Hombre 16:75–97.Google Scholar
Metcalf, George, and Flannery, K. V. 1967 An Olmec “were-jaguar” from the Yucatan Peninsula. American Antiquity 32:109–111.Google Scholar
Stirling, Matthew W. 1943 Stone monuments of southern Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 138. SmithsonianInstitution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Stirling, Matthew W. 1955 Stone monuments of Rio Chiquito, Veracruz, Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 157:1–23.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. S., Eric 1931 Aquatic symbols common to various centers of the classic period in Mesoamerica. In The Civilizations of ancient Mexico: selected papers of the 29th International Congress of Americanists, edited by Tax, Sol, pp. 31–36. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Vaillant, George A. 1932 A pre-Columbian jade. Natural History 32:512–520.Google Scholar
Wolf, Eric R. 1959 Sons of the shaking earth. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar