4049 - Context analysis of Teotihuacan-style stone masks from Central and Southern Veracruz

Central and Southern Veracruz has a quite impressive quantity of Teotihuacan-style masks, many of them in ritual deposits in buildings or water sources, and in one case associated to a probable funerary bundle. All seem to be locally made, small-scale imitations of the Teotihuacan models, coinciding in style and in being flat, solid and perforated for suspension. In this they differ from the coastal tradition of masks, meant to be worn by live persons (Olmec stone masks or Classic period ceramic masks). Interestingly, the contexts date to the Late Classic period, suggesting the masks were (ceremoniously) discarded after the collapse of Teotihuacan, generally in ritual caches, where their immanent power would still be of significance, even though their public life had ended.

Keywords: pre-Columbian, sculpture, Gulf coast

Author: DANEELS, Annick J. E. (Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas UNAM, Mexico / Mexiko)