Representations of old people probably date back to time immemorial. The deities of fire, those who carry large braziers on their shoulders and whose identity was reproduced in clay with the features of an old man, appear fully integrated into the ritual offerings that were deposited in Cuicuilco in the middle of the Formative period. Ironically, the earliest city in the central valleys of Mexico was destroyed by a volcanic eruption leaving a large part of it covered by incandescent lava. Either way, the cult continued at the opposite end of the Lake of Mexico and amid a growing metropolis.
Its images left clay behind and turned to stone which became the centerpiece of the cults of Teotihuacan. Extremely old, it is likely that fire played a role in the earliest religious expressions of ancient Mexico and not only to attain the symbolic dimension we know in the Central Highlands, but in other manifestations found in places besides Mesoamerica.
On the coast of the Gulf of Mexico such images share wrinkled faces, riven by the age of time. The folds and a mouth deformed by the absence of teeth come to be signs of old age. In a group of small sized sculptures, which originate from territories very distant from one another, these faces worn by time are connected to the shapes of such unique objects that share the characteristics of the El Tajin civilization (ca. 600-900 AD).
The piece before us is likely to have been modeled in Central Veracruz. The clay that was used to manufacture it is similar to that used in figures that come from the Papaloapan River basin. It is a seated man with crossed legs and whose hands are resting on his thighs. The head is particularly large for the size of the body, a disproportion that is no doubt accentuated by the presence of a colorful headdress ending in a bun. The face shows a sunken, toothless mouth, and is covered with wrinkles. The wrinkles on the forehead, in the corners of the mouth and on the chin highlight his advanced age.
The face of our old man is painted red, which is the color that continues down to his chest. The pupils are indicated by painted dots of tar, crude oil, a typical feature of pottery production of the Veracruz coast. He wears a belt made of leather around his waist where the hair is simulated by random incisions. There is the imprint of a necklace and the shoulders are complemented by a series of applications of small circles of clay that suggest scarification, a practice of body decoration that may have been very common in this part of ancient Mexico.
Representations of old people probably date back to time immemorial. The deities of fire, those who carry large braziers on their shoulders and whose identity was reproduced in clay with the features of an old man, appear fully integrated into the ritual offerings that were deposited in Cuicuilco in the middle of the Formative period. Ironically, the earliest city in the central valleys of Mexico was destroyed by a volcanic eruption leaving a large part of it covered by incandescent lava. Either way, the cult continued at the opposite end of the Lake of Mexico and amid a growing metropolis.
