This fragment is part of an effigy vessel, or better known as a Zapotec “urn”. It is given this name due to the fact that the majority of this type of ceramic is found in burial tombs. However the term "effigy vessel" is more appropriate since there is no example that contains incinerated human remains; furthermore, there are a few pieces that were found outside the burial context. In fact, it was not customary among the Zapotecs to cremate their dead. The main structure of an effigy vessel consists of a cylindrical cup attached to a sculpture of an anthropomorphic figure.
The piece is broken and only the head remains, the body is missing. It has almond-shaped eyes with the corners turned upwards, a mouth mask in the shape of a snout that comes up with fangs and a forked tongue. There are various effigy vessels that sport this type of mouth mask. For example, the effigy vessel that was discovered in the Zapotec borough of Teotihuacan by the archaeologist Rene Millon in 1967, bears the same mouth mask. Alfonso Caso and Ignacio Bernal, two eminent Mexican archaeologists, associate the figures of this mask with the god Quetzalcoatl of central Mexico for its relationship with the serpent and the visual analogy of the mask of that god when it appears as Ehecatl the god of the wind. However the Canadian researcher, Adam Sellen, points out the similarity between this mask and the shape of the mouth of the Zapotec glyph "serpent" (glyph Y in the Caso nomenclature) rather than the mouth mask of Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl.
The personage has round earrings with a pendent in the shape of a cross that is the glyph Epsilon or “blood”. The glyph blood usually appears as earrings the same as in this piece, for which reason it possibly is related to the self sacrificing act of taking blood out of the ear lobe.
It has a headdress decorated with some scrolls on the sides and a glyph in the middle. The scrolls could represent clouds. The glyph has the same scrolls on its sides, and above it is an elongated object that could be a feather or an ear of corn. It is glyph C, which is represented by a cup filled with water cut transversely. Not only do most of the effigy vessels with the serpent mouth mask wear the glyph C in their headdress, but this is also the emblem of the god Cocijo: god of lightning and rain among the Zapotecs. The serpent, the sacrificial blood, the clouds, the ear of corn, water and rain, all these are elements associated with fertility.
This fragment is part of an effigy vessel, or better known as a Zapotec “urn”. It is given this name due to the fact that the majority of this type of ceramic is found in burial tombs. However the term "effigy vessel" is more appropriate since there is no example that contains incinerated human remains; furthermore, there are a few pieces that were found outside the burial context. In fact, it was not customary among the Zapotecs to cremate their dead. The main structure of an effigy vessel consists of a cylindrical cup attached to a sculpture of an anthropomorphic figure.
