Finding the Right Niche: Altar, Throne, Stela, Sarcophagus? Overlap and Ambiguity in Olmec Large Stone Sculpture

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Sculpture of the Ancient Mexican Gulf Coast, Part 1" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Among the most diagnostic sculptures made by the Gulf Coast Olmec is the tabletop altar/throne. This sculpture is best known for its most common features: a wide, heavy cornice; a generally rectangular structure; and often, a niche in the front. Given the tabletop form, scholars originally interpreted these sculptures as altars, but many are much too large to have served as a sacrificial platform. Apparently resolving this enigma was Grove’s discovery of the Oxtotitlan Cave painting illustrating an elaborately garbed figure seated on a throne, as the supernatural imagery depicted on its heavy cornice is very similar to that on the Olmec sculptures. The recognition of additional Olmec and Olmec-related sites and further excavation have continued to add to the repertoire of Olmec sculptures—but have also introduced ambiguity and uncertainty into traditional sculpture categories. Some sculptures currently designated as thrones do not have niches but large, supernatural faces or multiple figures, while others may be lids to stone boxes, stelae, or another type of niche figure. A study of altar/throne and niche figure variations, of the overlap of forms and imagery, and a reevaluation of possible functions, all together provide new insights into our understanding of Olmec sculptures.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Sculpture of the Ancient Mexican Gulf Coast, Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 29881