Knowledge Systems of the Olmec

Extra: Human Embryo or Were‐Jaguar in Olmec Sculpture?

One of the characteristic features in Olmec art is a symbol that is widely known as a were‐jaguar. The symbol appeared as a disembodied head on headdress ornaments, as a whole body in the form of figurines (Fig. 15) and large ritual axes, and on monumental stelae (Figs. 16 and 17). First advanced in 1946, the interpretation of this symbol as a were‐jaguar has survived many attempts to replace it with alternatives. All of these have pointed out that the symbol lacks the pointed ears, fangs, claws, whiskers, tail, spots, and body of a jaguar. The only vaguely jaguar‐like features are a puffy upper lip, a flat nose, and an open mouth, usually toothless. Newer interpretations contend that the symbol was based on another animal: a crocodile, snake, or a fantastic creature or represents a deity. It was considered a hallmark of Olmec art that the Olmec portrayed “biologically impossible creatures.” Very recent research strongly suggests that the symbol IS biologically based and that it represents the human embryo of about 56 days (Fig. 18).

Fig. 15

Figurine representing and Embryo with a pronounced crest on its head. Private collection, drawing by Corey Escoto.

Fig. 16

The Kunz Axe, jadeite, American Museum of Natural History. Represents an embryo or “human seed,” Drawing by Corey Escoto.

Fig. 17

La Venta monument 25/26 represents a human embryo with a headband, bundled at the bottom, and with a head in the shape of a mountain. Here the embryo symbolizes the vital energy inherent in seeds. Author drawing.

Fig. 18

Photograph of a human embryo of 56 days, from England 1996. Used with kind permission.

To explore the proposal that this image represents the human embryo, this discussion compares the features of a human embryo of 56 days to those of two Olmec pieces, a figurine and an “axe” (Fig. 19):

• Overall proportions: in each case, the head is very large in proportion to the body. The human embryo's torso from the base of the head to the rump head is about 1.25 times the size of the head. The same is true of the Olmec figurine. On the axe, the head is even larger than the rest of the stylized body.

• Head: the embryo's forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain form bulges that create the shape of the head. Soft bony portions are separated by large sutures called fontanels. The anterior fontanel is diamond‐shaped. The Olmec figurine's head shows these typical swelling masses. The stylized forms on the axe give the head a slightly curved, tapering rectangular shape. Both the figurine and the axe show the anterior fontanel. In the figurine it is subtle but present; in the axe it takes the stylized “cleft‐head” form. In other examples it is diamond‐shaped.

• Eyes: lidless oval eyes sit on the sides of the head in the human embryo (Fig. 20). The eyes are still open but eyelids begin to form between days 52 and 57. On the figurine and axe, the eyes are widely spaced and lidless although on the figurine, which seems to show an embryo of about 57–58 days, lids are beginning to close over the eyeball (Fig. 21).

• Nose and mouth: at four weeks, the embryo exhibits a single, arching slit where the nose and mouth will soon develop. In the 5th–6th week, buds at the corners of the slit, called maxillary prominences, grow rapidly toward each other to form an upper lip that separates the nostrils from the mouth. The maxillary prominences are just that – prominent or puffy. At this stage, the nose barely projects above a swollen upper lip. This facial development occurs rapidly and at the stage during which the embryo is frequently lost from the womb (this will be explained below). Anyone who had seen several embryos would have noticed the swollen upper lip and shallow nasal pits. The principal feature of the Olmec symbol is its “puffy upper lip” and arching mouth, usually toothless. Above the upper lip are the flat nostrils of a human embryo. Sometimes Formative Period people added the dentition of various animals to the basic image to confer certain mythical associations or animal‐like qualities on the symbol (see Fig. 22).

• Ears: on an embryo the ears first appear as small arches on the sides of the neck. They do not move up onto the head until Week 10. Similarly, on the figurine, ears are not shown. On this axe, the maker included the cultural symbols of the headband and long earflaps but no ears.

• Limbs: in the developing embryo, the arms appear in Week 4, slightly before the legs. Hand plates appear in Week 6 but toe rays only in Week 7. Most of the Olmec images show short arms with poorly differentiated fingers. Both the figurine and axe show arms that are better developed than legs. Apparently the Olmec took care to show the developing stages of the limbs in both naturalistic and conventionalized images.

Fig. 19

A comparison of a human embryo at 56 days, an Olmec figurine, and an Olmec axe. The figurine is somewhat naturalistic, and the axe is a more stylized representation of the human embryo. Drawings by Corey Escoto.

Fig. 20

The Face of human embryo. Photos courtesy England 1996.

Fig. 21

A comparison of the faces of actual human embryos with those of Olmec embryo figurines, Photos courtesy England 1996. Drawings by Corey Escoto.

Fig. 22

An Olmec “axe” based on the form of the human embryo, with feline teeth added. Drawing by Corey Escoto.

The degree of correspondence between the Olmec symbol and the human embryo is so high that there is little question that the symbol indeed is a stylized representation of an embryo. The use of the embryo as a symbol points to knowledge of the human gestation process. Could this be possible? Access to embryos in the Formative Period was at least as high as it is today. Since about 20% of recognized pregnancies in the modern industrialized societies terminate between 42 and 56 days, (Weeks 6–8) it is also likely that miscarriage was at least that common in the past. The embryo measures from 20 to 30 mm at that stage, and so is quite visible. Human embryos were described in texts from other cultures, such as in the Garbha Upanishad (1400 BCE, India), so clearly ancient people did observe them.

Although there are no written texts from the Formative Period to corroborate the notion that the symbol represents an embryo, there are many references by modern indigenous people to embryos, placentas, conception, and gestation. Two modern stories illustrate the survival of this cultural focus. These stories illuminate what the embryo might have meant to the Olmec.

The first story comes from Nahuatl (Aztec) speakers. In a village in Veracruz, people place a cedar box in the shrine of the earth mother, Tonantsij. Her domain includes ruling over her children, known as the seed spirits, who are “…the life force or potential for fertility of each crop” (Sandstrom 1991: 244). These “seed spirits” seem to be a modern version of the ancient embryo symbol. From woman‐made paper, villagers form elaborately dressed figures of the seed spirits and place them in the box. These are cleaned, renewed, and redressed annually. Throughout the year they are given offerings of food, so they will not want to return to their mountain‐cave home. The most important seed spirits, those of maize, are called 7‐Flower and 5‐Flower, and are considered to be divine human twin children. Also, the Amatan people make bundles out of bandanas. They call these “elote child” and say they represent spirit and flower of maize. Three ears of corn are tied together, one for its backbone and two for its face. Marigolds, (representing the fiery energy of conception) emerge from the opening at the top and a candle, representative of the phallus, is inserted into this womb‐like bundle to bring male energy in the form of fire.

Similarly, the twentieth‐century Maya of Santiago Atitlán keep a box representing the womb of one of the three Marias in a shrine. In the box is a bundle called “Heart of the Placenta.” It is wrapped in a woven, beribboned cloth decorated with three faces called the corn girls, which a shaman places on the belly of a pregnant woman to give her fetus its face. Hanging from the ribbons, which represent umbilical cords, are two small bags filled with dry corn paste. The Atitecos call these bags “divine twins” – one male, one female – and consider them to be the original placentas that wrap the original seeds of the human race: the “root of children” (Tarn and Prechtel 1986: 175–176).

The ultimate spiritual technology in Olmec ideology seems to have been the evocation of the embryo (seed) spirit as the vital force that animates crops and human life.