January 15, 2021

Mexican Farmers Find Large Female Statue in Citrus Grove

Farmers digging in a citrus grove on New Year’s Day found the six-foot tall statue of a female figure who may represent an elite woman rather than a goddess, or some mixture of the two, INAH said.

It is the first such statue found in a region known as the Huasteca.

The carved woman has an elaborate hairpiece and marks of status, and is dated to 1450-1521. The site is near El Tajin but the statue shows Aztec influence.

Just who the open-mouthed, wide-eyed statue depicts remains something of a mystery.

Institute archaeologist María Eugenia Maldonado Vite wrote that “this could be a ruler, based on her posture and attire, more than a goddess.”

Maldonado added it could be “a late fusion between the Teem goddesses and women of high political or social status in the Huasteca.” Those goddesses were part of a fertility cult.

“Colonial era Aztec documents mentioned women ‘rulers’ so that is not a surprise,” Gillespie added. “Women were highly valued in the pre-Hispanic era, drastically losing their status only after the conquest.”

Phys.org has the report here with photos;
https://phys.org/news/2021-01-mexican-farmers-rare-female-statue.html

Science Daily adds this;

A young woman dressed in elaborate clothes and jewelry, including a circular pendant, known as an "oyohualli,” on a thick necklace; tassel-like earrings; and a headdress

eyes “must have been filled with inlays of obsidian or another stone,”

Maldonado Vite noticed small structures nearby that might be pre-Columbian residential buildings, she said.

https://www.livescience.com/statue-woman-headdress-mexico.html

Mike Ruggeri’s Mesoamerica After Teotihuacan
http://mikeruggerispostteotihuacan.tumblr.com