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Figurines: Mesoamerica
Rhonda Taube
Riverside City College, Riverside, CA, United States
The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality, First Edition. Edited by Patricia Whelehan and Anne Bolin.
2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Further readings
Dornan, Jennifer. 2004. Blood from the Moon:
Gender Ideology and the Rise of Ancient Maya
Social Complexity. Gender and History, 16(2):
459475.
Halperin, Christina, K. A. Faust, R. Taube, and A.
Giguet, eds. 2009. Mesoamerican Figurines: SmallScale Indices of Large-Scale Social Phenomena.
Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.
Houston, Stephen, David Stuart, and Karl Taube. 2006.
The Memory of Bones: Body, Being, and Experience
among the Classic Maya. Austin, TX: University of
Texas Press.
Sigal, Pete. 2011b. The Flower and the Scorpion:
Sexuality and Ritual in Early Nahua Culture.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Abstract
Ceramic figurines form a central corpus of ancient Mesoamerican art, appearing with virtually every
culture and time period of Mesoamerican history. Because they were ever-present and found primarily
in domestic contexts, they inform us about a wide array of daily human activities and everyday beliefs,
in contrast to most scenes in elite murals and monumental sculpture. In particular, they inform us about
ancient notions of sexuality, not only because of their widespread distribution but also due to the variety
of human images they represent. From the first appearance of figurines in the Early Formative period to
the time of Spanish contact in the sixteenth century, many figurines emphasize female secondary sexual
characteristics and local ideas regarding gender-based roles and responsibilities, including a plethora of
nubile and comely females with enlarged breasts, voluptuous hips, and appealing or suggestive poses.
Keywords: agriculture; archaeology; Aztec; belief systems; ceramics; fertility; gender roles; huntergatherer; Maya; Mesoamerican art; Nahua; Olmec; Oaxaca ritual
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