In the art of shaft tomb culture, one of the characteristic positions of warriors consists of standing figures with the head looking forward or to the left, legs apart and the right hand raised to one side of the face or further back, holding an object in it and seeming to be about to attack an opponent, like this warrior in action who carries a triangular weapon that can be identified as a knife; only the left arm is raised towards the front; some warriors hold a shield or their opponent.
His attire consists of a helmet that very obviously protects his ears and is fastened with a chinstrap, a necklace with a pendant, a wide belt tied at the back where the two ends hang, and also on the back a protruding shield in the shape of a toothed fan; these “teeth” represent feathers.
War is a major theme in the iconographic repertoire, although in the multiple zonal stylistic modalities some attributes vary, the dorsal shields appear only in the area of Colima, among others, in a variant of realistic traits of the Tuxcacuesco-Ortices style in which the figures may stand upright and the eyes are modeled in pastillage. It is also common for these shields to be semi-circular and with plumed representations with straight tips along the contour of the circular section, not at the bottom which is straight and horizontal. These are shields that mimic the fanned tail of a turkey; in the aforementioned style there are small sculptures of this bird with the tail spread out, they correspond to the Meleagris gallipavo species, which is typical of the region and a terrestrial bird, since its ability to fly is very limited.
The tubular type shape with which it is attached to the back increases the similarity with the tail, and in the rear view the two pendants from the belt and legs are also similar to animal; therefore, it is identified as a warrior turkey. In practical , dorsal shields represent hand to hand confrontation, and such is the dynamic attitude embodied in the sculpture.
Circular dorsal shields bordered by flat the tipped feathers of an uncertain species are common in the plastic arts in Mesoamerica, and can be seen on priests painted on walls in Teotihuacan, also in Tula, in the caryatids known as atlantes and in the image of the deity named Tezcatlipoca by the Mexicas which is carved into one of the pillars of the Pyramid B; these dorsal shields are associated with pyrite or obsidian mirrors and the sun in its nocturnal aspect. On the other hand, it is interesting to observe that Tezcatlipoca seems to be disguised as a turkey in certain codices -Bourbon and Vatican-Latin- and various elements of his attire have allowed for interpreting the "Lord of the Smoking Mirror" as a warrior god, connected with the region of death, darkness, night and nocturnal war; therefore it indicates the possibility of links with our sculpture.
The role of the turkey as food or offering seems to predominate in Mesoamerican iconography; however, the culture of the shaft tombs is related to its aggressive appearance, in so far as the males extend their tails for defensive and mating purposes. The turkey functions as the nahualli of the warrior that can clearly be seen in combat; its meanings may be associated with the funerary ritual, since it is highly probable that it comes from a burial.
In the art of shaft tomb culture, one of the characteristic positions of warriors consists of standing figures with the head looking forward or to the left, legs apart and the right hand raised to one side of the face or further back, holding an object in it and seeming to be about to attack an opponent, like this warrior in action who carries a triangular weapon that can be identified as a knife; only the left arm is raised towards the front; some warriors hold a shield or their opponent.
