Sitting upright with his fist to his mouth, this chubby Mesoamerican clay “baby” figurine is over a foot tall. It dates to approximately the 12th-9th century B.C. and is, surprisingly, hollow. The headpiece (or hairdo) is elaborately decorated and colored pink with cinnabar and red ochre. It is thought to have come from the ancient outpost of Las Bocas (the mouths) in what is now the modern state of Puebla, Mexico. “Baby” figurines were a popular motif in the culture of the Olmec, considered by many scholars to be the oldest Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing in the early-formative period (1500–900 […]
