Woman with child on her back

The Huasteca, the coastal plain that extends from Northern Veracruz, covering Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosi, was the backdrop of a complex culture, rich in cultural activities, and very ancient. The depictions of women, first in clay and then in stone, figure among the expressions of immemorial cults that managed to survive in those lands until the time of the Conquest.

Although our piece of interest probably did not fully enter the prototype of the female figures modeled in clay, it does share the bodily proportions. It has soft lines, long legs, wide hips and well formed breasts. It is distinguished by the particularly short arms, a feature that is common in this pottery production, which extends far in time. Her hair is in a knot, and she is wearing a pair of earrings that hang from both sides of the face. However, what makes her stand out is that there is a child on her back peaking over the woman's shoulder.

This beautiful, delicately executed figurine was probably elaborated in the Late Classic Period (600-900 A.D.) in some part of the Panuco river basin. It is not easy to specify a precise location, but in this case I having seen very similar figurines among the materials recovered by Ekholm many years ago in Las Flores, just outside Tampico; not only as regards the clay, but fundamentally with respect to the modeling of the facial features, barely implied, but in harmony with the size and shape of the face. This matter regarding the composition of the face is somewhat more complicated that it may seem at first glance. In addition, I am convinced that the consistencies of its visual construction could indicate precise places of elaboration in attention to their evident temporal differences.