Olmec were-jaguar
Encyclopedia
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
motif and a supernatural entity, perhaps a deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
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The were-jaguar motif is characterized by almond-shaped eyes, a downturned open mouth, and a cleft head. It appears widely in the Olmec archaeological record, and in many cases, under the principle of pars pro toto
Pars pro toto
Pars pro toto is Latin for "a part for the whole" where the name of a portion of an object or concept represents the entire object or context....
, the were-jaguar motif represents the were-jaguar supernatural. The were-jaguar supernatural incorporates the were-jaguar motif as well as other features, although various academics define the were-jaguar supernatural differently. The were-jaguar supernatural was once considered to be the primary deity of the Olmec culture but is now thought to be only one of many.
Originally, many scholars believed that the were-jaguar was tied to a myth concerning a copulation between a jaguar and a woman. Although this hypothesis is still recognized as viable by many researchers, other explanations for the were-jaguar motif have since been put forward, several questioning whether the motif actually represents a jaguar at all.
The term is derived from Old English
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
were
Were
Were and wer are archaic terms for adult male humans and were often used for alliteration with wife as "were and wife" in Germanic-speaking cultures ....
, meaning "man", and jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
, a large member of the cat family in the Olmec heartland
Olmec heartland
The Olmec heartland is the southern portion of Mexico's Gulf Coast region between the Tuxtla mountains and the Olmec archaeological site of La Venta, extending roughly 80 km inland from the Gulf of Mexico coastline at its deepest...
, on analogy with werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
.
Description
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Were-jaguar motif
The basic were-jaguar motif combines a cleft head, slanting almond-shaped eyes with round irisesIris (anatomy)
The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...
, and a downturned open mouth with a flared upper lip and toothless gums. This motif was first described in print by Marshall Saville
Marshall Howard Saville
Marshall Howard Saville was an American archaeologist, born at Rockport, Mass. He studied anthropology at Harvard , engaged in field work under F. W. Putnam, and made important discoveries among the mound builders in southern Ohio. After 1903 he was professor of American archæology at Columbia...
in 1929 and expanded upon by artist and archaeologist Miguel Covarrubias
Miguel Covarrubias
José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud was a Mexican painter and caricaturist, ethnologist and art historian among other interests. In 1924 at the age of 19 he moved to New York City armed with a grant from the Mexican government, tremendous talent, but very little English speaking skill. Luckily,...
in his 1946 and 1957 books. In this latter book, Indian Art of Mexico & Central America, Covarrubias included a family tree
Family tree
A family tree, or pedigree chart, is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. The more detailed family trees used in medicine, genealogy, and social work are known as genograms.-Family tree representations:...
showing the "jaguar mask" as ancestral to all (later) Mesoamerican rain gods.
At about this time, in 1955, Matthew Stirling
Matthew Stirling
Matthew Williams Stirling was an American ethnologist, archaeologist and later an administrator at several scientific institutions in the field...
set forward what has since become known as the Stirling Hypothesis, proposing that the were-jaguar was the outcome of a mating between a jaguar and a woman.
In response to this groundwork, the were-jaguar became the reigning linchpin of Olmec iconography. Nearly any representation showing a downturned mouth or cleft head was described as a "were-jaguar". A major 1965 Olmec-oriented exhibition was entitled "The Jaguar's Children" and referred to the were-jaguar as "the divine power of the Olmec civilization".
This paradigm was undermined, however, by the discovery that same year of Las Limas Monument 1
Las Limas Monument 1
Las Limas Monument 1 is a greenstone figure of a youth holding a limp were-jaguar baby. Found in the Mexican state of Veracruz in the Olmec heartland, the statue is famous for its incised representations of Olmec supernaturals and is considered by some a "Rosetta stone" of Olmec religion...
, a greenstone
Greenstone (archaeology)
Greenstone is a common generic term for valuable, green-hued minerals and metamorphosed igneous rocks and stones, that were used in the fashioning of hardstone carvings such as jewelry, statuettes, ritual tools, and various other artefacts in early cultures...
sculpture that displayed not only a were-jaguar baby, but four other supernaturals, each of whom had a cleft head. Based on analyses of this sculpture, in 1976, Peter David Joralemon proposed definitions for eight Olmec supernaturals, each characterised by specific iconographic combinations.
Were-jaguar as a rain deity
Through this and subsequent research, it became apparent that not every cleft head nor every downturned mouth represented a were-jaguar. Some researchers have therefore refined the were-jaguar supernatural, specifically equating it with the Olmec rain deity, a proposition that artist, archaeologist, and ethnographer Miguel Covarrubias had made as early as 1946 in Mexico South.The Olmec rain supernatural (or deity) not only displays the characteristic almond-shaped eyes, cleft head, and downturned mouth—that is, the were-jaguar motif—but has several other defining attributes, including a headband and a headdress, the latter usually cleft. The headband is often divided horizontally and decorated with regularly spaced ornaments. In addition to, or often as an extension of, the headdress, the supernatural also sports earbars (often pleat
Pleat
A pleat is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference....
ed) running down the sides of its face, and a "crossed-bars" icon on the chest and/or navel.
Beyond the term "were-jaguar"
Some academics have even attempted to move away from the term "were-jaguar". For example, in his 1996 monograph, rather than "were-jaguar", Anatole Pohorilenko uses the term "composite anthropomorph", and in their 1993 book, Miller and TaubeKarl Taube
Karl Andreas Taube is an American Mesoamericanist, archaeologist, epigrapher and ethnohistorian, known for his publications and research into the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. he holds a position as Professor of Anthropology at the College of Humanities,...
state that:
- An overarching [were-jaguar] theory cannot explain the diversity and complexity of Olmec supernaturals. Only one, the Rain Baby, clearly seems to be a human-jaguar blend."
Depictions
Although they are "strangely absent" from ceramics, three-dimensional representations of the Olmec were-jaguar supernatural appear in a wide variety of stonework, from small greenstoneGreenstone (archaeology)
Greenstone is a common generic term for valuable, green-hued minerals and metamorphosed igneous rocks and stones, that were used in the fashioning of hardstone carvings such as jewelry, statuettes, ritual tools, and various other artefacts in early cultures...
figurines (see this 9 cm figurine) to basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
statues (such as San Lorenzo Monument 52) to larger monuments (see lead photo).
Inert were-jaguar babies are often shown held by stoic adults, as if the infant were being presented. This scene is depicted in a wide range of materials, from small portable carvings (see photo below) to nearly life-size greenstone
Greenstone (archaeology)
Greenstone is a common generic term for valuable, green-hued minerals and metamorphosed igneous rocks and stones, that were used in the fashioning of hardstone carvings such as jewelry, statuettes, ritual tools, and various other artefacts in early cultures...
statuettes (see photo below), to multi-tonne altars (see photo of Altar 5 front here), although it is not known with any clarity what this act represents.
Two-dimensional representations of the were-jaguar were incised onto greenstone celts
Celt (tool)
Celt is an archaeological term used to describe long thin prehistoric stone or bronze adzes, other axe-like tools, and hoes.-Etymology:The term "celt" came about from what was very probably a copyist's error in many medieval manuscript copies of Job 19:24 in the Latin Vulgate Bible, which became...
, painted on pottery, and even carved onto four multi-tonne monoliths at Teopantecuanitlan
Teopantecuanitlan
Teopantecuanitlan is an archaeological site in the Mexican state of Guerrero that represents an unexpectedly early development of complex society for the region. The site dates to the Early to Middle Formative Periods, and archaeological evidence clearly indicates some kind of connection existed...
(see drawing). Lively were-jaguar babies are depicted in bas-relief on the sides of La Venta
La Venta
La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco....
Altar 5 (see photo below).
According to archaeologist Peter Furst, were-jaguar figurines were likely used as household gods for many people and as spirit helpers or familiars for priests or shamans, aiding in transformative acts and other rituals.
Origins
As the major predator of Mesoamerica, the jaguar was revered by pre-Columbian societies, and adoption of jaguar motifs by the ruling elite was used to reinforce or validate leadership. However, this does not explain the were-jaguar motif in and of itself, and the possible origins of the motif have engaged scholars for over a half century.The Stirling hypothesis
Matthew StirlingMatthew Stirling
Matthew Williams Stirling was an American ethnologist, archaeologist and later an administrator at several scientific institutions in the field...
, who made many of the initial Olmec discoveries in the mid-20th century, proposed that the were-jaguar motif was derived from the story of copulation between a male jaguar and a female human, largely based on:
- Potrero NuevoSan Lorenzo TenochtitlánSan Lorenzo Tenochtitlán is the collective name for three related archaeological sites -- San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán, and Potrero Nuevo -- located in the southeast portion of the Mexican state of Veracruz. From 1200 BCE to 900 BCE, it was the major center of Olmec culture...
Monument 3, - TenochititlánSan Lorenzo TenochtitlánSan Lorenzo Tenochtitlán is the collective name for three related archaeological sites -- San Lorenzo, Tenochtitlán, and Potrero Nuevo -- located in the southeast portion of the Mexican state of Veracruz. From 1200 BCE to 900 BCE, it was the major center of Olmec culture...
Monument 1, - Laguna de los CerrosLaguna de los CerrosLaguna de los Cerros is a little-excavated Olmec and Classical era archaeological site, located in the vicinity of Corral Nuevo, within the municipality of Acayucan, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, in the southern foothills of the Tuxtla Mountains, some 30 kilometers south of the Catemaco.With...
Monument 20, and - Murals from ChalcatzingoChalcatzingoChalcatzingo is a Mesoamerican archaeological site in the Valley of Morelos dating from the Formative Period of Mesoamerican chronology. The site is well-known for its extensive array of Olmec-style monumental art and iconography. Located in the southern portion of the Central Highlands of Mexico,...
.
This so-called Stirling hypothesis won guarded support from later archaeologists, including Michael D. Coe
Michael D. Coe
Michael D. Coe is an American archaeologist, anthropologist, epigrapher and author. Primarily known for his research in the field of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican studies , Coe has also made extensive investigations across a variety...
. Further analysis of these sculptures by scholars including Whitney Davis, Carolyn Tate, Carson Murdy, and Peter Furst, however, have cast doubt on this hypothesis, instead proposing alternatives to explain the jaguar characteristics.
Jaguar as victor
In her 1978 article, Whitney Davis suggests that the so-called depictions of human-jaguar copulation on monuments are instead the beginnings of a jaguar cult or are representative of conquest in battle rather than a sexual conquest. Rather than viewing the people and jaguar-figures in sexual situations, Davis sees the jaguar, or man in jaguar pelts, as an aggressor towards a defeated opponent. Most of the figures in the reliefs and monuments are clothed in loincloths, which would negate copulation, and Davis believes those that are naked appear dead or dying rather than in a sexual posture. It is not uncommon to see unclothed human figures as representative of dead captives or opponents in battle, as in the danzantes of Monte AlbanMonte Albán
Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca...
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Genetic defects
Even before Davis questioned the idea of a belief system centering on human-jaguar copulation, scholars like Michael Coe looked for biological causes for the fleshy lips, cleft head, and toothless mouths that make up the were-jaguar motif. Genetic abnormalities like Down syndromeDown syndrome
Down syndrome, or Down's syndrome, trisomy 21, is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. It is named after John Langdon Down, the British physician who described the syndrome in 1866. The condition was clinically described earlier in the 19th...
and spina bifida
Spina bifida
Spina bifida is a developmental congenital disorder caused by the incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube. Some vertebrae overlying the spinal cord are not fully formed and remain unfused and open. If the opening is large enough, this allows a portion of the spinal cord to protrude through...
have been common explanations. People afflicted with spina bifida in particular present developmental defects that coincide with the were-jaguar characteristics. One such condition is encephalocele
Encephalocele
Encephalocele, sometimes known by the Latin name cranium bifidum, is a neural tube defect characterized by sac-like protrusions of the brain and the membranes that cover it through openings in the skull. These defects are caused by failure of the neural tube to close completely during fetal...
s, which among other things, can cause separation of the cranial sutures and result in a depression, or cleft, in the head. Cranium bifidum can produce similar results. In addition, there is a higher chance of these conditions occurring within the same family than randomly throughout the population, and there might have been considerable inbreeding among the elite. If children born with this affliction were seen as divine or special in some way, multiple births of affected children within a family or familial line would have reinforced that family's political and religious power.
Were-jaguar as toad
Peter Furst, among others, has suggested that the were-jaguar actually represents a variety of native toad, specifically "an anthropomorphically conceived toad with jaguar characteristics".Species of toad that are commonly found in Mesoamerica, like Bufo marinus or Bufo valliceps
Bufo valliceps
The Gulf Coast Toad is a species of toad native to the southern United States , Mexico, and Central America as far south as Costa Rica.- Description :...
, have the pronounced cleft in the head and, like all toads, have a fleshy mouth with toothless gums. These species of toad are known to have ceremonial and hallucinogenic properties for many cultures of Mesoamerica. Skeletal remains of these species, particularly Bufo marinus, have been found at several archaeological sites in Mesoamerica including Olmec ceremonial centers. These species of toads have inherent symbolic power in their metamorphic life cycle, their fertility, their hallucinogenic venom, and especially their skin-shedding.
Those were-jaguar representations that have fangs commonly attributed as jaguar fangs can also be explained as toad-like. Several times a year, mature toads shed their skin. As the old skin is shed, the toad will eat it. As the skin is eaten, it hangs out of the toad's mouth and closely resembles the fangs of the were-jaguar. The process of regeneration could have symbolised death and rebirth, with all its attendant religious implications.
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Summary
There are many theories and associations that swirl around the were-jaguar motif, and they need not be not mutually exclusive. It is possible that were-jaguars meant different things at different times during the Olmec period or to the many different people who created the images. The matter is far from settled.See also
- Jaguars in Mesoamerican cultureJaguars in Mesoamerican cultureThe representation of jaguars in Mesoamerican cultures has a long history, with iconographic examples dating back to at least the mid-Formative period of Mesoamerican chronology. The jaguar is an animal with a prominent association and appearance in the cultures and belief systems of pre-Columbian...
- NagualNagualIn Mesoamerican folk religion, a Nagual or Nahual is a human being who has the power to magically turn him- or herself into an animal form: most commonly a donkey, turkey, or dog, but also other and more powerful animals such as the jaguar and puma.Such a Nagual is believed to use his powers for...
s, later Mesoamerican mythical shape-shifters
Further reading
- Joralemon, Peter David (1971) A Study in Olmec Iconography. In Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, No. 7. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks.