The icons from the El Chanal culture, as we see here, are commonly known as "singers". The ceramic sculpture of this late development in the ancient history of Colima, which collapsed before the Spanish presence, is characterized by large sized pieces with a restricted iconographic repertoire dominated by the human figure. Besides the "singer" effigies, warriors, rulers sitting on equipales, male figures sitting on their buttocks with their knees raised, and representations of the god Xipe are known; among the pottery works, cylindrical censers with attributes of the god Tlaloc and vessels with conical protuberances stand out.
Among the "singing" figures are women and some men. They were modeled nude and with their genitals showing; the head is flattened and with a reverse trapezoidal shape and they are standing, although sometimes they can't hold themselves up, with their legs wide apart, their arms raised with their hands to the sides of the face. Their palms face forward with their fingers spread out, along with open mouths from which the tongue sticks out. The posture is very expressive, they seem active, although in a frozen movement. They are always decorated, and the piece in question displays the most common features: a band on the head with a central triangular projection, two circular shapes with hanging tassels on the sides; perforated ears indicate the use of missing earrings; at other times there are ear plugs.
The work shows the conserved remains of an off-white wash and some sections in red; motifs painted in blue stand out with some overlapping black lines that trace a broad chest and wide bracelets that perhaps refer to textiles or woven beads; from other similar sculptures we can infer that the headdress was also painted. Sculptures like this have been found as part of burial offerings.
El Chanal is an archaeological site which has been open to the public since 1997; according to Angeles Olay it was identified as a major city spread out over 200 hectares. The presence of metal objects, such as gold, silver and copper contributed to heavy looting of its remnants. Its participation in long-distance trade networks has been noted, as evidenced by Plumbate type ceramic, whose distribution was concentrated in what is now Tula, Hidalgo, as well as obsidian objects that perhaps came from the center of Jalisco. Besides metallurgical production, the El Chanal society excelled in cotton and, in its architecture, coating with stone slabs engraved with figurative designs. The city was between rivers: on both sides of the Colima or Green River, bordered to the west by the Chacalillo stream and to the east by the Campos stream; it had the Fire and Snow volcanoes as its backdrop.
The icons from the El Chanal culture, as we see here, are commonly known as "singers". The ceramic sculpture of this late development in the ancient history of Colima, which collapsed before the Spanish presence, is characterized by large sized pieces with a restricted iconographic repertoire dominated by the human figure. Besides the "singer" effigies, warriors, rulers sitting on equipales, male figures sitting on their buttocks with their knees raised, and representations of the god Xipe are known; among the pottery works, cylindrical censers with attributes of the god Tlaloc and vessels with conical protuberances stand out.
