Our most solid hypothesis is that the vast majority of the stone carvings of the tradition known as Mezcala, if not all of them, were used in burial contexts. They included household items and formed a part of offerings, but they were not offerings themselves. They were sculpted evocations of life whose purpose was to accompany the soul of the deceased on its travels. Anthropomorphic figures are the most common in the Mezcala repertoire. They seem to have represented the deceased and their families. Something very similar occurred in the shaft tomb culture, except that they used ceramics to give life to personages and scenes, whereas only stone was used in the Mezcala tradition.
The general criteria of the Mezcala human figure is: geometrical abstraction, symmetry, polygonal faces, poorly defined body details such as ears, simple lines for the face without contours of expression, etc. This criteria was maintained for a much rarer type of figure, which is that of sitting individuals.
The Amparo Museum's small collection of sitting figures also reveals variations in overall body shape. This piece shows a very typical cut between the legs, produced by the effect of a file or saw with the help of a tight rope.
This piece, together with piece number 447, shows individuals tucking their legs and holding their knees, one of the typical postures of the rulers represented in the codices. Curiously, the eyes of both figures were made by drilling small circles, which is somewhat uncommon for Mezcala pieces.
It is probable that these sitting or reclined figures represent high ranking personages. They may be images associated with the deceased themselves buried in tombs for the senior hierarchy. for this possibility comes from the scant number of sitting pieces found compared to the plethora of standing pieces, and the coincidence of the sitting posture with pictographic representations of persons of authority in the codices.
Our most solid hypothesis is that the vast majority of the stone carvings of the tradition known as Mezcala, if not all of them, were used in burial contexts. They included household items and formed a part of offerings, but they were not offerings themselves. They were sculpted evocations of life whose purpose was to accompany the soul of the deceased on its travels. Anthropomorphic figures are the most common in the Mezcala repertoire. They seem to have represented the deceased and their families. Something very similar occurred in the shaft tomb culture, except that they used ceramics to give life to personages and scenes, whereas only stone was used in the Mezcala tradition.
