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THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY FORGOTTEN FIGURES: THE RITUAL CULTURE AND MODERN DISPLAY OF MESOAMERICAN CERAMIC FIGURINES HANNAH TOOMBS SPRING 2016 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for baccalaureate degrees in Anthropology and Spanish with honors in Anthropology Reviewed and approved by the following: Claire McHale Milner Curator of the Matson Museum of Anthropology Thesis Supervisor Amara Solari Associate Professor of Art History and Anthropology Thesis Supervisor Timothy Ryan Associate Professor of Anthropology and Information Sciences and Technology Honors Adviser * Signatures are on file in the Schreyer Honors College. i ABSTRACT For the anthropological community, Mesoamerica represents an ideal research location. Numerous archaeological sites and a rich cultural history make this region a prime location to conduct excavations and ethnographic fieldwork. For the past century, the architecture and ritual culture of the Olmec, Maya, Mexica, and other inhabitants of the region have revealed the complex religious and sociopolitical organization of these Pre-Colombian civilizations. However, there are particular aspects of Mesoamerican archaeology that are poorly understood in the anthropological community today. Mesoamerican ceramic figurines, although discovered in abundance, represent a relatively unexplored and misunderstood area of the region’s complex cultural history. However, these artifacts held significant sociopolitical and ritual meaning in Mesoamerican society, a fact that is rarely communicated in modern museum exhibitions. This project synthesizes existing research and recent literature on Mesoamerican figurines, discussing their chronology from the Formative to Post Classic periods and contrasting the ritual function of these artifacts in domestic and elite contexts. Figurine exhibits in modern museums are also evaluated to reveal effective and ineffective methods of display. The final component of this project is the design of a figurine exhibit in Penn State’s Matson Museum of Anthropology that successfully communicates the ability of figurines to reflect the social, political, and spiritual culture of Mesoamerica. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... vii Chapter 1 The Perplexity of Ceramic Figurines in Mesoamerican Archaeology ........ 1 An Introduction to Mesoamerica ..................................................................................... 1 Problems with Preservation .............................................................................................. 4 Looting and Fakes ............................................................................................................ 5 Context is Critical ............................................................................................................ 6 Establishing Chronology and Creating Classification ..................................................... 7 Chapter 2 The Formative Figurine ............................................................................... 10 Classifying the First Figurines ......................................................................................... 10 Formative Figurine Context: Elite Settings and Iconography .......................................... 18 Formative Figurine Contexts: Burials and Domestic Settings ......................................... 24 The Future of Formative Figurine Studies ....................................................................... 28 Chapter 3 The Classic Period Figurine Within an Evolving Civilization .................... 30 Evolving Figurine Style and Production Techniques ....................................................... 31 Figurine Identity and Function in Maya Society .............................................................. 32 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 4 Duality in the Post Classic World: Mexica Figurines ................................. 44 Classifying the Post Classic Figurine ............................................................................... 45 Maintaining the Empire: Ritual Use of Mexica Figurines ............................................... 54 Clues to Colonialism Among Figurines ........................................................................... 58 Chapter 5 Telling the Story of Figurines in Modern Museums ................................... 62 The National Museum of the American Indian, Washington D.C. .................................. 62 The Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA ...................... 65 American Museum of Natural History, New York City .................................................. 68 National Museum of the American Indian, New York City: Special Exhibition “Cerámica”, NY ............................................................................................................................ 71 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA .................................................. 75 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County; “Visible Vault: Archaeological Treasures from Ancient Latin America”, Los Angeles, CA ..................................................... 79 San Diego Museum of Man; “Maya: Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth”, San Diego, CA ..... 82 The Field Museum of Chicago: “The Ancient Americas”, Chicago, IL .......................... 86 Harvard Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Boston, MA ....................... 90 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY .................................................. 94 Creating the Most Memorable Museum Experience ........................................................ 96 iii Chapter 6 Designing a Figurine Display ...................................................................... 98 Theoretical Exhibition Design ......................................................................................... 99 Figurine Exhibition Outline for the Matson Museum of Anthropology .......................... 106 Final Thoughts ................................................................................................................. 116 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 117 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Map of Mesoamerica ................................................................................................. 2 Figure 2 Map of Major Mesoamerican Archaeological Sites .................................................. 3 Figure 3 Timeline of Mesoamerican History (Pohl, 2012) ...................................................... 3 Figure 4 Formative Figurine Heads. Notice "coffee bean" and incised eyes (Vaillant, 1931) 11 Figure 5 Early Formative Figurines Heads and Bodies (Vaillant, 1931) ................................. 13 Figure 6 Early Formative Figurine Bodies with Female Sex Indicated (Vaillant, 1931) ........ 13 Figure 7 Early Formative Figurines with Exaggerated Hip Width (Vaillant 1931) ................. 13 Figure 8 Formative Figurine Holding Child, indicating it may be female (Vaillant, 1931) .... 14 Figure 9 Middle Formative "Grotesque" Figurines, Resembling Birds (Vaillant, 1931) ........ 15 Figure 10 Early Formative Olmec Figurines with Sloping Foreheads (Joyce, 2009) .............. 17 Figure 11 Formative Sites with Evidence of Figurine Trade Network .................................... 18 Figure 12 Reconstruction and Sketch of Offering 4, La Venta (Joyce, 2009) ......................... 20 Figure 13 Sketch of Feature 96 and Photo of "Flying" Figurine, San José Mogote (Joyce, 2009) 21 Figure 14 Structure 35 and Superimposed Temples of San José Mogote (Joyce, 2009) ......... 22 Figure 15 Lightning Mask with iconography associated with Cocijo (Joyce, 2009) ............... 23 Figure 16 Burial 27 (left) and Burial 60 (right) at Tlatilco with interred figurines (Joyce, 2009) 26 Figure 17 Sketches of Funerary Figurines discovered in Formative burials (Joyce, 2009) ..... 26 Figure 18 House 16/17 Figurine Assemblage (Joyce, 2009) ................................................... 28 Figure 19 Figurine Mold .......................................................................................................... 31 Figure 20 Maya Ruler Figurine with Feathered Headdresses (Field Museum, Chicago) ........ 34 Figure 21 Sketch of Palanquin Figurine (right) and Physical Example (left) from Belize (Halperin, 2014) ............................................................................................................... 35 Figure 22 Ballplayer Figurine (Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) ............... 37 Figure 23 Male Musician Figurine with Winged Headdress (Halperin, 2014) ........................ 38 Figure 24 "Common" Figurine with Broad-Brimmed Hat (Halperin, 2015) ........................... 39 v Figure 25 Lightning God Ka'wiil seen on Maya Polychrome Vase (Maya Vase Database) ... 40 Figure 26 Sketches of elderly "grotesque" figurines seen with young female figures, a possible example of "mimicry" (Halperin, 2014) .......................................................................... 42 Figure 27 Type I Hollow Figurine Head Fragments ...............................................................
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