The Tenaxpi Egg: Ecology, Representation, and Conceptual Convergence in Olmec Art

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.

Through the lens of “conceptual convergence,” we examine the multiple symbolic strands that inform specific Gulf Coast sculptural images, focusing especially on the Tenaxpi Egg/Homshuk sculpture. This sculpture, excavated on Tenaxpi Island in Lake Catemaco, shows a figure sculpted on an egg-shaped stone. This image likely references several stories from the region in which an old couple find an egg from which a boy emerges. Among the Zoque Popoluca of the Tuxltla Mountains of southern Veracruz, the boy is named Sintiopiltsin, “god-ear-of-corn.” This deity is the source and therefore precursor to actual maize, while at the same time being maize himself. After introducing this object, we examine the complex references that this image possibly presents. Specifically, we suggest that while maize is an important symbolic element, other metaphors drawn from diverse ecological systems played an equally significant role in this specific case, and in other Gulf Coast imagery. Through this example, we consider the fluidity of conflated or shared attributes within Indigenous thought, in which myth, history, ideology, agriculture, and the environment are interwoven. We critically engage this framework by exploring theoretical and methodological issues associated with emic and etic conceptualizations of Formative Period artistic programs.

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)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32026