The Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition refers to a set of interlocked cultural traits found in the western Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and, to a lesser extent, Colima to its south, roughly dating to the period between 300 BCE and 400 CE, although there is not wide agreement on this end date. Nearly all of the artifacts associated with this shaft tomb tradition have been discovered by looters and are without provenance, making dating problematic.The International Council of Museum estimates that 90% of the clay figurines come from illegal excavations ICOM .
The first major undisturbed shaft tomb associated with the tradition was not discovered until 1993 at Huitzilapa, Jalisco.Williams, Classic period page as well as Danien, p. 23. There is some evidence (Meighan & Nicholson, p. 42) that many tombs were looted in ancient times.
Originally regarded as of Purépecha origin, contemporary with the Aztecs, it became apparent in the middle of the 20th century, as a result of further research, that the artifacts and tombs were instead over a thousand years older. Until recently, the looted artifacts were all that was known of the people and culture or cultures that created the shaft tombs. So little was known, in fact, that a major 1998 exhibition highlighting these artifacts was subtitled: "Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past". Also, in the fourth edition of his Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs, Michael D. Coe talks about "our abysmal ignorance of the prehistory of the area", p. 56.
It is now thought that, although shaft tombs are widely diffused across the area, the region was not a unified cultural area.The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures says, for example, that "At no time in the pre-Hispanic era did any political or cultural entity impose itself on the whole region, even though certain cultural patterns (such as the building of shaft-and-chamber tombs) have in fact been widely diffused", Michelet p. 328. Beekman (2000, p. 393) makes the same argument. Archaeologists, however, still struggle with identifying and naming the ancient western Mexico cultures of this period.
Description
The shaft tomb tradition is thought to have developed around 300 BCE.Williams, Classic period page and most other sources give the 300 BCE date. For example, Dominique Michelet in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures says "it probably started earlier" than 200 BCE. Some shaft tombs predate the tradition by more than 1000 years – for example, the shaft tomb at El Opeño in Michoacán has been dated to 1500 BCE but is linked to Central, rather than Western, Mexico. Like much else concerning the tradition, its origins are not well understood, although the valleys around Tequila, Jalisco, which include the archaeological sites of Huitzilapa and Teuchitlan, constitute its "undisputed core".Beekman (2000) p. 388 & 394. The tradition lasted until at least 300 CE although there is not wide agreement on the end date.The proposed end date of the shaft tomb tradition varies considerably. Williams as well as the De Young Museum give a date of 300 CE. The International Council of Museums, on the other hand, provides a date of 500 CE, while the Smithsonian and The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures give 600 CE.
The Western Mexico shaft tombs are characterized by a vertical or nearly vertical shaft, dug 3 to 20 meters down into what is often underlying volcanic tuff. The base of the shaft opens into one or two (occasionally more) horizontal chambers, perhaps 4 by 4 meters (varying considerably), with a low ceiling. The shaft tombs were often associated with an overlying building.
Multiple burials are found in each chamber and evidence indicates that the tombs were used for families or lineages over time.Coe et al., p. 102. Williams, Classic period page. The labor involved in the creation of the shaft tombs along with the number and quality of the grave goods indicate that the tombs were used exclusively by the society's elites,Beekman (2000) p. 388. and demonstrate that the shaft tomb cultures were highly stratified at this early date.
The sites of El Opeño and La Campana in Colima feature some shaft tombs, and are often associated with the Capacha culture.
Ceramic figurines and tableaus
Grave goods within these tombs include hollow ceramic figures, obsidian and shell jewelry, semi-precious stones, pottery (which often contained food), and other household implements such as spindle whorls and metates. More unusual items include conch shell trumpets covered with stucco and other appliques. Unlike those of other Mesoamerican cultures such as the Olmec and the Maya, shaft tomb artifacts carry little to no iconography and so are seemingly bereft of symbolic or religious meaning.Covarrubias (1957) p. 87.
The plentiful ceramic figurines have attracted the most attention, and are among the most dramatic and interesting produced in Mesoamerica.Christensen. In fact, these ceramics were apparently the primary outlet for artistic expression for the shaft tomb cultures and there is little to no record of associated monumental architecture, stelae, or other public art.Meighan and Nicholson, p. 47.
Since the vast majority of these ceramics are without provenance, analysis has largely focused on the ceramics' styles and subjects.
Styles The major stylistic groups include:
Ixtlan del Rio. These abstract figurines have flat, squarish bodies with highly stylized faces complete with nose rings and multiple earrings. Seated figurines have thin rope-like limbs while the standing figurines have short stocky limbs. One of the first styles to be described, noted ethnographer, and caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias stated that it "reaches the limits of absurd, brutal caricature, a peculiar aesthetic concept that relishes the creation of haunting subhuman monstrosities".Covarrubias, p. 89-90. Art historian George Kubler finds that "the square bodies, grimacing mouths, and staring eyes convey a disturbing expression which is only in part resolved by the animation and plastic energy of the turgid forms".Kubler, p. 194.
"Chinesca" or "Chinesco" figurines were named by art dealers after their supposed Chinese-like appearance. An early type, Chinesco is identified with NayaritSee, e.g., Kubler, p. 194. and up to five major subgroups have been identified, although there is considerable overlap.Meighan and Nicholson state that the Chinesco types "merge in a rather complex fashion", p. 58. Type A figurines, the so-called "classic Chinesco",Kan. p. 21. are realistically rendered. One prominent curator, Michael Kan, finds that "their calm, subtle exterior suggests rather than demonstrates emotion".Kan, p. 22. These Type A figures are so similar to one another that it has been suggested that they were the production of a single "school".Kan, p. 17, who references Peter Furst (1966) "Shaft Tombs, Shell Trumpets and Shamanism", Ph. D. dissertation, UCLA. Types B through E are more abstract, characterized by puffy, slit-like eyes blended into the face, and broad rectangular or triangular heads. These figures are often shown seated or reclining, with shortened bulbous legs quickly tapering to a point.Kan. p. 22. The Ameca style, associated with Jalisco, is characterized by an elongated face and a high forehead which is often capped by braids or turban-like headgear. The aquiline nose is also elongated and the large eyes are wide and staring, with pronounced rims created by adding separate strips of clay ("fillets") around the eyes.Covarrubias, p. 91. These "fillets" are often referred to as appliqués. The wide mouth is closed or slightly opened and the large hands have carefully delineated nails. Kubler detects both an early "sheep-faced" style that seem "eroded or melted in the continuous passages of modelling that unite rather than divide the parts of the body" and a later style which are "more animated and more incisively articulated".Kubler, p. 193.
Colima ceramics can be identified by their smooth, round forms and their warm brown-red slip.Metropolitan Museum of Art . Colima is particularly known for its wide range of animal, especially dog, figurines. Human subjects within the Colima style are more "mannered and less exuberant" than other shaft tomb figurines.Kan, p. 26.
Other styles include El Arenal, San Sebastián, and Zacatecas. Although there is general agreement on style names and characteristics, it is not unanimous. Moreover, these styles often overlap to one degree or another, and many figurines defy categorization.
Subject matter Common subjects of shaft tomb tradition ceramics are:
Ceramic tableaus showing several or even several dozen people engaged in various seemingly typical activities. Concentrated in highland Nayarit and adjoining Jalisco, these tableaus present rich ethnographic insight into funerary practices, the Mesoamerican ballgame, architecture (most importantly perishable architecture), and perhaps even religious thought during the late Formative period.See Taylor for discussion of the religious insight offered by these tableaus.
Some tableaus are almost photographic in their detail and have even been associated with architecture ruins in the field.Foster et al., p. 47 as well as Wiegand, p. 400.
Ceramic dogs are widely known from looted tombs in Colima. Dogs were generally believed in Mesoamerican cultures to represent soul guides of the deadAmong many others, see Coe et al., pp. 103–104, or Kubler, p. 195. and several dog ceramics wear human masks.See these photos from Flickr for an example of a mask-wearing Colima dog. Another is part of the Stafford Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (see Sculpture of Ancient West Mexico, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima). Nonetheless, it should also be noted that dogs were often the major source of animal protein in ancient Mesoamerica.Coe (1994), p. 45 and many others. Ancestor (or marriage) pairs of female and male figurines are common among shaft tomb tradition grave goods. These figurines, perhaps representing ancestors,Metropolitan Museum of Art, . may be joined or separate and often are executed in the Ixtlán del Río style. Many shaft tomb figurines, spanning various Western Mexico styles and locations, wear a horn set high on the forehead. Several theories have been advanced for these horns: that they show that the figure is a shaman, that they are abstract conch shells (a not uncommon shaft tomb relic)The Las Cebollas tomb contained 125 conch shells (Meighan & Nicholson, p. 39). Beekman (2000) lists conch shell trumpets, along with dogs and horned figures, as three examples of "common symbolic threads" of the shaft tomb tradition. and as such, are an emblem of rulership, or are a phallic symbol.Danien. These theories are not mutually exclusive.
Uses While these ceramics were obviously recovered as grave goods, there is a question of whether they were specifically created for a mortuary rite, or whether they were used prior to burial, perhaps by the deceased. While some ceramics do show signs of wear, it is as yet unclear whether this was the exception or the rule.Meighan and Nicholson, p.59.
Context
Western Mexico cultures Considerable effort has been made connecting the shaft tomb tradition to the Teuchitlán tradition, a complex society that occupies much the same geography as the shaft tomb tradition.