This ceramic figure, together with piece number 1039, tends to be located within the tradition known as Xochipala. However, it regards notably distinct works of many other figures also identified as Xochipala. The proportions, shape and length of the extremities and, especially, the almost square form and large head size are peculiar features of these pieces.
Some features that coincide with the Xochipala tradition, as we have identified them in several naturalist and very expressive ceramic figures, would be the type and color of clay and the preference for pastillage. Pastillage was essentially crucial for forming the ornaments of the figures, their breasts (particularly their nipples), noses and eyebrows. The practice of piercing the eye with a toothpick or punch is also notable, and it coincides with the Xochipala pieces themselves.
We could perhaps consider these pieces an early or primitive expression of the Xochipala tradition. It is worth mentioning that we also find in the Valley of Mexico, during the progression from the Early Preclassic to the Middle Preclassic, a set of figures with non-anatomic shapes, short arms, large heads, extremities in the shape of starfish to figures that are much more naturalistic.
As regards to these figures, it is worth pointing out that their faces reach an interesting expressiveness due precisely to the use of pastillage and punctures on the face, as occurs in subsequent Xochipala type figures.
Their meaning is problematic: at first they would seem to be sacrificial representations due to the clear incision that vertically traverses the abdomen and the thorax, particularly deep in the case of this figure. However, they could be women and not men, since both figures have very prominent chests.
The problems lays in that human sacrifice by extraction of the heart and other viscera was a practice linked to war. It was performed on captured warriors, and the cases we have documented refer to men. The presence of women in war was exceptional. There is one battle in which women help by throwing projectiles from a hill; one image (perhaps only allegorical) of a warrior princess, but war captives were normally men.
An alternative interpretation would point to a certain representation related to maternity, death during labor or a type of cesarean section.
This ceramic figure, together with piece number 1039, tends to be located within the tradition known as Xochipala. However, it regards notably distinct works of many other figures also identified as Xochipala. The proportions, shape and length of the extremities and, especially, the almost square form and large head size are peculiar features of these pieces.
