Zoomorphic Figure (Monument 52)

Mexico, Veracruz, Municipality of Texistepec, San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán, 1000–400 BC
Andesite
Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City (10-81268)

This crouching figure, associated with water flow, attests to the importance of managing water at San Lorenzo. It has the cleft head, almond-shaped eyes, and snarling mouth typical of many composite creatures in Olmec art. The pleated ear ornaments are references to the water deity. The headdress is marked with a pair of scalloped designs, and the figure wears a pendant with the X motif. The sculpture was buried north of the main drain line at the western edge of the San Lorenzo plateau. Archaeologists discovered that the drain line reached more than 550 feet from east to west, with three branches extending south to north.

Photo: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes — Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia — México — Javier Hinojosa