Emulating Olmec Gods Through Head Form. Origins and the Preclassic Period

Abstract

This chapter explores the early evidence of infant head modeling in the broader Mesoamerican sphere, where the skeletal record testifies to cultural skull modifications for almost 10,000 years. This information is complemented by drawing insights from figurative head representations. The remote origins of cradleboard, wrapping, and head-splinting practices in Preceramic and Preclassic times are reviewed briefly for sites with documented cranial series that exemplify the preferences in the different cultural territories of Mesoamerica. The skulls from the Preclassic period of Monte Negro and Monte Albán (Mexican state of Oaxaca), Tlatilco, Cuicuilco y Tlaltenco (Mexico City), in particular, make the increasing cultural embedding of the practice apparent, along with its regional and local preferences and a growing diversity in forms. Additional skeletal information comes from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Maya area. Although Gulf Olmec head traditions have not preserved well in the material record of the harsh tropical environs, its rich iconographic patrimony clearly illustrates the crafting of specific pear-shaped head forms to emulate the sacred forces of Olman. High and narrow silhouettes were also adopted outside the Olmec coastal plains and practiced in tandem with a host of increasingly diversified forms of modeling. Beyond preferences, the evolving social—and possibly religious—roles of Preclassic period Mesoamerican body modifications are discussed. I contend that the appearance of Olmecoid pear-shaped head styles most likely reflected syncretic ideological adoption among those populations that dwelled outside or past Gulf Coast Olman occupation.