Our effigy vessel has the shape of a figure who represents a very frequent theme of Mesoamerican art; a carrier who has a vessel on his back, held by a tumpline. The wide belt that es through the front and the two ropes held and tensed with the hands es under the load, which allows him to carry it on his back because of the leveled distribution.
The tumpline was an indispensable element of the carrying technique of the Mesoamerican people, whose beginnings are in the Preclassic Period and which, to date, survives in some areas of Mexico. It is used by itself or in conjunction with a cacaxtli, a wooden trellis to which it is bound; the figure of this carrier is displayed in one of the early stelae of Izapa on the Pacific coast, and in the mural painting of Cacaxtla in Tlaxcala, to mention a later example.
Its use, which was the most representative mode of transportation in a society in which the wheel was not known and which did not have pack animals, tells us about transportation; of the movement of products and goods, in this case water. It allows us to think about the way in which heavy loads were carried from region to region for the trade and distribution of goods. As indicated by Ruben Morante Lopez, the tumpline obviously had a symbolic significance that relates to the pochteca: merchants, and the tameme: carriers, as well as the gods of commerce; but also, it is linked to the training for the priesthood or militia, to divining practices, to the calendar and to time.
The vessel refers to the work of transporting the vital liquid, and this ceramic example modeled in black clay in the form of an old man carrying his load with a tumpline belongs to a long-standing ancient pottery tradition. Its shape and theme is linked to a series of representations that appear in different regions of western Mesoamerica, where they, as part of burial practices, were deposited in shaft tombs during a burial as scenes of everyday life. The representations are varied: there are musicians, warriors, dancers, acrobats, ballplayers and women carrying children, as well as the elderly.
The face of the old carrier is that of the old toothless man, with drooping eyelids, aquiline nose and a pronounced beard with hair, and one may think it is the representation of an igneous deity of ancient Mesoamerica, generally known by its Nahuatl name of, Huehueteotl. The deity is seated, his belly is swollen and his limbs slender, and instead of carrying his characteristic brazier which contains fire on his curved back, he is carrying the bowl with the help of the tumpline. The bowl is now empty but we can imagine when it was filled with clear water.
In any case, due to its characteristics, it corresponds to an uncommon aspect of the general meaning of the fire god in which the deity, which ostensibly has to do with the igneous world, is also associated with water. This brings us to the dichotomy of Mesoamerican thought.
Emilie Carreon Blaine
The theme of water carrier appears frequently in Mesoamerican art, as it must have been a common practice of extracting water from a well or river to take it to the center of town. Its appearance in art requires some explanation. It may allude to a mythical age, the powers of a god, and not the pure daily practice of hauling water. However, in the case of the shaft tombs, it is true that it was customary to recreate scenes from daily life to provide a living environment that would accompany the deceased in the last years of their soul, as it traveled to the world of the dead. Could it then be the plain and simple representation of a water carrier, responsible for providing the deceased with drink, left in the grave just as food dishes were left? It is possible. In any case the figure serves to identify the use of the tumpline and the type of vessel, that is, it documents the practice and duties of the water carrier.
From a formal point of view, it is worth noting the enthusiasm of Mesoamerican artists from all eras to create vessels that assimilated their own forms of the ceramic sculpture or, to put it another way, that were both vessels and figures. This preference forced them to choose those figures that could be adapted to such a purpose: they frequently chose the squatting, human figure whose belly generally offered the ideal space, given its bulk, to become the recipient.
This piece shares with others in the shaft tombs tradition that apparent ease or spontaneity with which it seems the themes are collected from everyday experience. Stylistically we also find identifying features of pieces of Western Mesoamerica, as in the preference for monochrome and engobe for coloration. Burnishing leaves a semi-shiny surface.
The distortion of the body and its bulge appear in other figures of the shaft tombs tradition, and especially in the group of pieces referred to as "elephantine", some of which, incidentally, carry water. Moreover, in the elephantine figures we found the use of a very dark clay, as in this piece. Therefore, despite the differences in the execution of the human figure, it can be argued as likely that this piece comes from the same area where the elephantine style was generated, or at least one that was nearby and culturally similar.
Pablo Escalante Gonzalbo
