350 – 100 B.C.
Anthropomorphic sculpture representing a shaman. The legs are apart. The arms are free from the body. The forearms are crossed over the chest, the hands placed on the shoulders. The fingers of the hands are notified by grooves. The sex is decorated with a spiral ornament. The head is pushed into the shoulders. The mouth and the elongated eyes are in relief and marked by a horizontal groove. The prominent arches of the eyebrow meet with the root of the nose and merge with the receding forehead. The ears are adorned with circular rings. The head is topped by a bird on the right side of the forehead. The crossed arms symbolize the four cardinal points. With his position, the shaman is standing at the center of the world and balances the complementary energies. The bird on the forehead represents the divine inspiration.
The Chontal culture, dated from 350 – 100 B.C., is, next to the Mezcala culture,one of the most representative artistic tradition of the State of Guerrero, in the south-west of Mexico. Its stone sculptures mainly represent masks or human figures. It differs from its Mezcala neighbor by its more naturalist style, visible into the features of the face and the recurrent curves. The Chontal civilization remains unwell known and mysterious, but its stone sculptures fascinate with their sobriety and their pursuit of essentiality.
