Contextualizing the “Tuxtla” Statuette: Epi-Olmec Writing and Representation in Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico and Its Hinterland

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Coffee, Clever T-Shirts, and Papers in Honor of John S. Justeson" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The greenstone figure known as the Tuxtla Statuette is significant as one of 12 objects with an Epi-Olmec text, and the first to be described in the scholarly literature. For over a century it was misidentified as having been recovered from the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, near the town of San Andrés Tuxtla, Veracruz. The author of this paper participated in archival and oral history research initiated by John Justeson in 2010 that corrected this error, demonstrating that the statuette was found on the Hacienda Hueyapan de Mimendi in or very near the archaeological site of Tres Zapotes. Tres Zapotes is also the site that produced the cabeza colossal de Hueyapan and Stela C, the latter of which is famous for bearing another Epi-Olmec inscription and Long Count date. This paper reflects on John Justeson’s important contributions to Epi-Olmec epigraphy and extends the prior research on the Tuxtla Statuette in the light of archaeological investigations in Tres Zapotes and the surrounding region to place the object more precisely in its sociopolitical and historic context.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)   •
• Coffee, Clever T-Shirts, and Papers in Honor of John S. Justeson

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36932.0