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The Olmec rain supernatural (or deity) not only displays the characteristic almond-shaped eyes, cleft head, and downturned mouth—that is, the werejaguar motif—but has several other defining attributes, including a headband and a headdress, the latter usually cleft. [12]
In the surviving Olmec archaeological record, jaguars are rarely portrayed naturalistically, but rather with a combination of feline and human characteristics. These feline anthropomorphic figures may range from a human figure with slight jaguar characteristics to depictions of figures in the so-called transformative pose, kneeling with hands ...
Olmec arts are strongly tied to the Olmec religion, which prominently featured jaguars. [53] The Olmec people believed that in the distant past a race of werejaguars was made between the union of a jaguar and a woman. [53] One werejaguar quality that can be found is the sharp cleft in the forehead of many supernatural beings in Olmec art.
Joralemon states that the Olmec rain spirit "is based on were-jaguar features", but is not the were-jaguar per se. [19] More recent scholarship by Tate (2012) questions the existence of "were-jaguar" imagery [d] and instead argues for the centrality of embryo-corn kernel iconography within Olmec iconography. [20]
An archetypical baby-face figurine from Las Bocas.. The "baby-face" figurine is a unique marker of Olmec culture, consistently found in sites that show Olmec influence, [4] although they seem to be confined to the early Olmec period and are largely absent, for example, in La Venta.
Las Limas Monument 1, also known as the Las Limas figure or the Señor de las Limas, is a 55 centimetres (22 in) greenstone figure of a youth holding a limp were-jaguar baby.
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This category and its subcategories are for articles relating to the belief systems of the pre-Columbian Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica, including aspects such as mythology, religion, iconography, ceremonial practices and observances.