Far from being superficial, added or accessory, ornamentation is a fundamental part of the composition of the arts and the creation or self-creation of a person's image. Some of its forms, such as tattooing, hair dyeing, piercing and scarification, involve semi-permanent or permanent modifications to the human body.
Before turning our attention to the colorful jewelry she is wearing, it is worth mentioning that this pertains to the Classic culture of the Cuitzeo Lake basin, meaning it is present, at the least, between the years 200 and 600 A.D., which corresponds to the early phase of what is called the Classic period in the history of Mesoamerica. Lake Cuitzeo is located in the northeast of Michoacán and its basin includes the area bordering the state of Guanajuato. In Michoacán, the Morelia valley is part of the basin and these images have also been reported there.
There is little information to date about the contexts and original functions of this type of work. I suggest that it belongs to the Chupicuaro artistic tradition, which can be determined because the Cuitzeo Basin is included in the region where the Chupicuaro culture developed, and especially because of the persistence of certain stylistic and iconographic features in small-format ceramic sculpture, depicting mainly female figures.
As can be seen in the work, an attribute that seems to be characteristic of the classical art of the Cuitzeo region is the representation of women in an upright position (the feet end in points and do not the sculptures) with short arms separated from the torso, hinting at the hands and feet through incisions that delineate the fingers. Breasts with nipples are prominent, as are the rounded abdomen and pubic area. It could represent a woman in a state of gestation or who has previously given birth.
A change from the solid volume ceramic sculptures of the Chupícuaro culture is the greater desire for three-dimensional figuration, such that the buttocks are emphasized in side views. Likewise, the hair in the back has been detailed with incisions; it is short and the back of the collar has been detailed with volume.
Jewelry with large ear pieces and chokers or necklaces are other noteworthy elements. The neck ornaments consist of several strands or rows of tubular beads arranged horizontally.
The ornamentation of the ears is definitely predominant in the visual communication of these works, involving permanent modification of the body in the piercing of the earlobes. They are circular in shape with a conical appearance. This decoration shows that the characteristic ear ornaments of the Teotihuacan culture are circular and large. This culture and that of the Cuitzeo lake basin were contemporaries and there is diverse evidence of interaction between the inhabitants of Michoacán and the great city of Central Mexico, so my supposition is that these women reflect these political or economic connections.
The polysemy and multifunctionality of ornamentation are vast; some of its possibilities involve defining and communicating identities, social or biological situations, rituals performed, hierarchical levels, and attribution to a lineage or a trade. The ostentation in jewelry seems to allude to her nobility, and the other aspects are naturally intertwined.
Far from being superficial, added or accessory, ornamentation is a fundamental part of the composition of the arts and the creation or self-creation of a person's image. Some of its forms, such as tattooing, hair dyeing, piercing and scarification, involve semi-permanent or permanent modifications to the human body.
