There are many distinct groups within the agglomeration
referred to as the Western Mexico Shaft Tomb (WMST)
tradition, foremost among them the Jalisco, Nayarit, and
Colima. Their relationships are almost totally obscure due
to the lack of contextual information. However, it is the
artworks that are the most informative. All of the cultures
encompassed under the WMST umbrella were in the habit
of burying their dead in socially-stratified burial chambers
at the base of deep shafts, which were in turn often
topped by buildings. Originally believed to be influenced
by the Tarascan people, who were contemporaries of the
Aztecs, thermoluminescence has pushed back the dates of
these groups over 1000 years.
Although the apogee of this tradition was reached in the
last centuries of the 1st millennium BC, it has its origins
over 1000 years earlier at sites such as Huitzilapa and
Teuchitlan, in the Jalisco region. Little is known of the
cultures themselves, although preliminary data seems to
suggest that they were sedentary agriculturists with social
systems not dissimilar to chiefdoms. These cultures are
especially interesting to students of Mesoamerican history
as they seem to have been to a large extent outside the
ebb and flow of more aggressive cultures – such as the
Toltecs, Olmecs and Maya – in the same vicinity. Thus
insulated from the perils of urbanization, they developed
very much in isolation, and it behooves us to learn what
we can from what they have left behind.
There are few cultures in the Americas or indeed
elsewhere that can match the Jalisco for exuberant skill in
the production of figurative ceramics. These wares were
usually placed in graves, and do not seem to have
performed any practical function, although highly
decorated utilitarian vessels are also known. It is possible
that they were designed to depict the deceased – they are
often very naturalistic – although it is more probable that
they constituted, when in groups, a retinue of
companions, protectors and servants for the hereafter.
Many of the figures represent warriors, judging from their
apparel and martial stance. These were probably
protectors of the deceased, symbolic of actual people who
were buried with the deceased as retainers in more
sanguineous Central and Southern American societies.
Supernatural and more enigmatic figures are also known,
presumably representing aspects of Jalisco cultural
heritage (gods, spirits, ancestors, mythological figures etc)
that cannot be understood at the present time. However,
perhaps the best-known style is that of the maternity
figure.
Since the dawn of time, a powerful magic has
been associated with masks. They transform the
wearer into someone or something else and
transcend the physical boundaries of life. This
fascinating miniature example--with eyes
pierced, as if to be worn over a tiny face--was
probably used in the funerary rites of ancient
Mexico. In many great cultures--the Egyptian,
Mycenean, the Roman--masks played an
important role in the transition between this
world and the next. Even in an age that has
forgotten such rituals, the power of this object is
undeniable.
