The Acrobat. Discovered in an Olmec tomb at Tlatilco, in the Valley of Mexico, this delicate clay figurine may depict the man buried with it. An opening visible in the left leg suggests the hollow sculpture served as an offering vessel.
Modeled in fine white clay, the statuette was found with several small clay figurines, representing mushrooms or phalluses, and with grinding stones used to prepare hallucinogenic mushrooms. The burial goods indicate the tomb belonged to a shaman, who used mind-altering mushrooms and assumed acrobatic poses while communicating with the spirit world. Shamans’ mystical powers allowed them to communicate with the dead, heal the sick, bring rain and prophesize.
Although the Olmec left no written records, their monumental stone heads of kings and other sculpture, pottery, stone tools, buildings and tombs have led scholars to call theirs the first civilization in the Americas. At Tlatilco, which means “Where Things Are Hidden,” excavators have uncovered more than 500 graves dating from about 1200 to 900 B.C. The acrobat and other finds from the site—on the outskirts of modern Mexico City—provide evidence of the early formative period of Olmec civilization, which continued to flourish throughout the river country of southern Mexico until 300 B.C. The development of Olmec culture coincides with the emergence of Israel in Canaan, 8,000 miles away.
The Acrobat. Discovered in an Olmec tomb at Tlatilco, in the Valley of Mexico, this delicate clay figurine may depict the man buried with it. An opening visible in the left leg suggests the hollow sculpture served as an offering vessel.
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