The figures of the Mezcala tradition represent one of the greatest challenges to the study of Mesoamerican art. This tradition is, in fact, an almost pending issue for Mesoamericanist archeology. Most of the pieces that are known come from the spontaneous extraction conducted, especially in the middle of the 20th century. The material, technical and formal similarity of the groups of objects, and the certainty that they come from lots of works that entered the museums and collections as a group has allowed us to get an idea of the repertoire that we know as "Mezcala," being known that many pieces were located in the vicinity of this tributary of the Middle Balsas, at times when roads were opened and rural communities interacted with engineers and the first travelers on the roads.
The basic features of this stone art, with predominantly schematic carvings that prefer abstraction, are included on other descriptive sheets in the Amparo Museum collection. Although there are some figures of a more naturalistic type, in the Olmec way, it is much more frequent, as in this piece, for it to be a set of straight lines, with great frugality, which produces the shape and moderate expression of the figures. The carving method, with the sliding of the edge of a very thin straightedge or with the friction of a rope stretched by bow, like a blade, allows preferably symmetrical figures. Furthermore, in this figure of the feline man, the use of the conical stone drill is evident.
This piece is small, dark in color and with a shiny surface. It has smaller dimensions than the standing human figures, in a frontal and rather flat view, that are more frequent. It is small like the beads on a necklace, but it has the peculiarity of not showing any holes for hanging. It resembles the group of small animals that we consider companions of the human figures in the burial contexts. This small anthropomorph looks like an amulet, and it could be a representation of the soul or the receiver of some force from the deceased.
The feline piece fits in the palm of the hand. The dominant form is that of a quadruped, with the appearance of a feline: we suppose that it is a jaguar because the grooves made with the drill create a dotted pattern that does not seem to have any other function than to indicate the species. Now, a face emerges from the inside. It could be considered that it is a priest or another character "disguised" as a feline. While this isn't impossible, we lean towards an interpretation linked to the magical beliefs of Mesoamerica. As happens in some Olmec and Mayan representations, it could be an allusion to nahualism; it would not be a disguise then, but the representation of the power and action of some magicians and rulers to enter the body of the feline.
The figures of the Mezcala tradition represent one of the greatest challenges to the study of Mesoamerican art. This tradition is, in fact, an almost pending issue for Mesoamericanist archeology. Most of the pieces that are known come from the spontaneous extraction conducted, especially in the middle of the 20th century. The material, technical and formal similarity of the groups of objects, and the certainty that they come from lots of works that entered the museums and collections as a group has allowed us to get an idea of the repertoire that we know as "Mezcala," being known that many pieces were located in the vicinity of this tributary of the Middle Balsas, at times when roads were opened and rural communities interacted with engineers and the first travelers on the roads.
