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Human-animal imagery, shamanic visions, and
ancient American aesthetics
REBECCA STONE-MILLER
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48 RES 45 SPRING 2004
Shamanic visions
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Stone-Miller: Human-animal imagery, shamanic visions, and ancient American aesthetics 49
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50 RES 45 SPRING 2004
a b
Figure 3. Vessel in the Form of a Bufo alvariusToa? with Vision Serpent. Central
Appliqu?. Period V, a.D. 500-800. Ceramic. 39/16x 67/8x 45/8in. (9.1 x 17.4 x 11.8
Thibadeau, Michael C. Carlos Museum (Photographs by Michael McKelvey).
a. Front view b. Rear view
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Stone-Miller: Human-animal imagery, shamanic visions, and ancient American aesthetics 51
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52 RES 45 SPRING 2004
Figure 5. Incensario with Sun God-Jaguar Way Lid Figures. Mesoamerica, Highland Guatemala, Maya. Early
Classic, a.D. 200-550. Ceramic. 73/4 x 51/8 in. diam. (19.8 x 13.1 cm diam.). 1992.15.176. Gift of Laurence C. and
Cora W. Witten II, Michael C. Carlos Museum (Photographs by Michael McKelvey).
a. Anthropomorphic side b. Jaguar side c. Side view
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Stone-Miller: Human-animal imagery, shamanic visions, and ancient American aesthetics 53
and solve problems was preeminent. (If we are not undergraduate or a Tukano shaman (Reichel-Dolmatoff
usually predisposed to agree; however, that should be 1975:figs. 39, 40), there is a very strong pattern to
irrelevant to our scholarly pursuits.)7 visions, a sequence of common experiences: brilliant
A contemporary Peruvian shaman recently reported and shifting colors and shapes, attack by predators,
to me a relevant vision in which the B. caapi plant spirit transformation into those and other beings, flying, seeing
asked him, "Do you want to learn?" and he replied, distant places and times, speaking to spiritual beings,
"Yes." The plant enjoined him, "Then let yourself be and understanding the universal life force in all things
taught," and its spirit pulled very hard on his ear and (Harner 1973; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1975:168- 174;
whispered into it, "Let me drink you, you don't drink Naranjo 1973). While the exact colors, animals,
me. When you drink me, you drink with your ego. If I messages, etc., remain particular to the visionary and his
drink you, as a plant, a pure plant, I'll show you the or her specific vision experience, Siegel has shown that
wisdom of all the plants." In this worldview the plants over 70 percent of subjects report an encounter with a
are the "bosses," as this informant called them, so the celestial spiritual being, whether believed to be a "Sky
plants can "drink us" (Anonymous, personal Spirit in the Milky Way" or an "angel," according to
communication 2002). Such a "turnabout" is strikingly one's cultural expectations.8 Therefore, I contend that
reminiscent of the vengeful dogs and turkeys in the the core values and content of visions in ancient times
Popol Vuh creation story and exemplifies the shamanic can be reconstructed fairly reliably because in general
understanding of an entirely animate universe. structure, content, and order visions have nearly
To connect modern experience with ancient art, it is universal, quite specific characteristics that often
important to note that visions' typical, even surprisingly transcend the culture, time, and religious orientation of
predictable, overarching properties have been well the visionary. This rather predictable hallucinatory
documented in European accounts of the Amazonian sequence and content makes ancient American art more
region for hundreds of years. The sixteenth-century understandable, and all the richer in providing a context
explorations of the "New" World report, "when the for its nearly overwhelming emphasis on multivalent
hearbe had doen his woorke he [the Prieste] did revive imagery. What may be tiger transformation for a modern
and awake and gaeve them their answeres according to Santiagan was almost certainly jaguar co-essence in
the visions and illusions which he sawe" (Monardes antiquity; it has been shown repeatedly that one is very
1572, quoted in Schultes and Raffauf 1992:88). Botanist likely to see large predatory animals, whether one is an
Richard Spruce in the nineteenth century sampled urban sophisticate or a traditional rainforest dweller.
hallucinogens (Schultes and Hofmann 1992:65), as did While I will not attempt to account for the reasons
Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff in the 1970s, reporting behind these commonalities, whether physical,
similar results. Visions have been explored in the chemical, psychological, or spiritual (Winkelman 2000),
scientific literature for over seventy years; as early as shared visual experiences represent a significant primary
1928 Heinrich Kl?ver first published the typical source for the understanding of deeper content, values,
mescaline experiential sequence, and more recently and formal choices recurrent in ancient American art
Siegel and others substantiated it and those of other (Stone-Miller 2002a:xv-xxvi).
substances (1977). Whether the subject is a Harvard The vast majority of visions are brilliantly colorful and
feature recurring geometric patterns at the outset
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54 RES 45 SPRING 2004
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Stone-Miller: Human-animal imagery, shamanic visions, and ancient American aesthetics 55
Figure 7. Chav?n-Revival Effigy Head Goblet with Rattle Handle. South America, Central Andes, North Coast,
Moche. Early Intermediate Period, a.D. 1-650. Ceramic. 7 x 5V2 x 23/8 in. rim diam. (17.8 x 14 x 6 cm rim
diam.). 1989.8.159. Gift of William C. and Carol W. Thibadeau, Michael C. Carlos Museum (Photograph by
Michael McKelvey).
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56 RES 45 SPRING 2004
shamanic change into the animal co-essence. Second, the symbolic and ritual motivation went far beyond
the term "impersonator" implies that there is a mere costuming. The superimposition of dead over living
distinction being drawn between the representation of a body graphically reenacted the cycle of life and death
person and the being or force they are pretending to be via, among other things, a symbolic reference to the
(pretense figures in our definition of impersonator), as maize seed's miraculous springtime growth from the
opposed to the representation of a profound unity of a sloughed-off husk (ibid.).
human with other cosmically important forces. If, for A number of images, in fact, use costume elements to
example, a person is shown dressed as a jaguar, such a place themselves so far down the continuum of
costume ritually transforms the individual from a unitary, transformation as to be animals masquerading as
normal human body into a multiple, supernatural one. If humans, such as the masked dogs of Colima (Miller
we further recall that in the shamanic experience 2001:55, ill. 34). Others may be seen as humans so
everything is understood to be animate, then costumes profoundly embedded in their animal selves that only
are full of life force themselves (the Moche animated one lone item of clothing remains (figs. 6, 12). In the
objects are a case in point; Quilter 1990). Townsend's seated jaguar (fig. 6) the scarf suggests that it is, in fact,
classic study of the N?huatl term teotl, the Aztec's name a completely transformed person, as do the almond
for the divine sacred energy manifest in all things, shows shaped eyes (Stone-Miller 2002a:cat. no. 524). In the
that costumes were considered full of teotl and therefore bird, the wings tied like a cape around the neck imply
merited special burial after use (1979:28). the same thing (fig. 12). The vision experience, as noted
Certain ancient American images do make it clear above, takes viewers so far from their human point of
that they depict a person wearing a special view that they adopt an animal's perspective entirely.
transformative suit, ornaments, headdress, and so on. Some modern shamanic belief further includes the idea
The Maya murals in Bonampak Room 1, in fact, show that animals have their own animal shamans (dogs have
dressing for a ritual as a primary subject and thus one dog shamans, jaguars have jaguar shamans), and if the
can reconstruct exactly how the elaborate back racks same logic holds as for human shamans, these animal
and headdresses were worn (Miller 1986:69-79). In shamans might well have either animals (e.g. Stone
sculptural media, there may be textural shifts to Miller 2002a:155-156, cat. no. 364) or humans as their
differentiate layers of clothing (Berrin 1997:138, cat. no. alter-egos as well (Buchillet 1992:216). Thus, who is
77), edges, or different planar levels to indicate the wearing what, or whom, cannot account for the panoply
superimposition of masks (Abel-Vidor 1981:212, cat. of shamanic shape shifting. Admittedly there may be a
nos. 196, 197), painted ties on body coverings (Stone large gray area in which opinions differ as to whether a
Miller 2002a:cat. no. 163), spots on animal skin suits given image is costumed or transformed; for example,
(Freidel, Schele, and Parker 1993:359), and lines to the enigmatic masked Colima dogs might be seen as
represent hems or seams (Stone-Miller 2002b:150, ill. dogs' dog shamans, a human shaman in dog form, a
120). Dressed figures typically maintain some dog dressed as a person, a dog guiding the dead (Miller
semblance of a vertical pose and their human features 2001:56-57), or the abstract idea that dogs have souls
are at least partially visible, in other words, normal like humans (F?rst 1998:186). Yet there certainly are
hands or feet protrude from the suit, human mouths or ways to distinguish dress from transitional bodies, such
eyes can be glimpsed under the mask. An "x-ray" (better as the absence of any delineated edges, ties, hems,
termed an "internal") view may be used to underscore planes, or textures as a starting point.
the person within another identity (e.g., Miller 2001:36, Paracas embroidered figures are a prime example of
ill. 23). The most obvious examples of clear costuming the need to see clothing as only one element in a
are the many Mexica images of Xipe Totee (The Flayed continuum of transformation. In a significant advance
One), with their meticulous detailing of the skin suit's over the undifferentiated application of "ritual
various ties, large stitches to hold the heart sacrifice tear impersonator," Anne Paul and SolveigTurpin pinpointed
together, scaly texture to indicate the skin suit, dangling a large subset of Paracas "Block Color" figures that
extra hands and/or feet, and living eyes and mouth represent ecstatic shamans, figures shown with bent
visible through the holes in the dead face (Pasztory backs, snake hair, emaciated bodies, and specific ritual
1983:pls. 199, 200, 267, 298; Townsend 2000:121, ill. paraphernalia (1986). I would add that the bent body
69). The Xipe ritual, participants, and associated acts to position the shaman between states, preventing
imagery, however, also represent a well-documented gravity from claiming him in any definitive way and
example of ancient American ritual practice in which allowing him to participate simultaneously in human
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Stone-Miller: Human-animal imagery, shamanic visions, and ancient American aesthetics 57
Figure 8. Tripod Vessel with Jaguar-Human Features. Central America, Costa Rica, Greater Nicoya, Pataky Polychrome, P?taky
Variety. Period VI, a.D. 1000-1350. Ceramic. 12 x 5V4in. diam. x 225/8 in. circum. (30.5 x 13.3 cm diam. x 57.5 cm circum.).
1991.4.337. Ex coll. William C. and Carol W. Thibadeau, Michael C. Carlos Museum (Photographs by Michael McKelvey).
a. Front view b. Rear view
bodily vertically and animal corporeal horizontality. His bottomed ones perpendicular to the leg with toes at the
torso, impossibly shown clothed and with the emaciated front only [e.g., Stone-Miller 1994:83]).10 These are the
ribs below, only becomes possible in the visionary realm few candidates for a "costumed-human shaman"
in which the perceived essence of an entity wins out category. However, a number of these upright figures
over its surface appearance (Stone-Miller 2002a:xv ff.). had what can be characterized as animal feet, in which
Based on Raul and Turpin's important work, I would a digit curls down from the back of the heel. Although
further suggest that the majority of the Paracas figures perhaps closest to monkey feet with their thumb-like
depict one form of shaman or another. Variation in the back toe, some of these non-human feet possess very
figures' body and limb positioning, the shape of their long, curled, pointed "toes," unlike those of primates.
feet, and their costumes help establish how relatively These sharp digits may stand for the arrangement of
animal-transformed they are in a given image. In an talons on raptorial birds (a single talon at the back of the
informal survey of thirty-one Block Color embroidered
figures, several combinations of human and animal 10. Upright can be pertinent to certain animals, however, such as
features became apparent. In the first grouping, most the butterfly or the monkey, though standing with head, hips,
vertically positioned figures (arguably a characteristically shoulders, and feet aligned is a human characteristic. Birds go both
human, bipedal pose) had human feet as well (flat ways; their bodies are often horizontal yet their feet hang down.
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58 RES 45 SPRING 2004
foot occurs in ospreys, condors, and others [Poole their necks, as when jaguars stalk (Perry 1970:51, 69).
1989:78, fig. 5.3; 78-81; 87]). They also resemble the Interestingly, the bent-back shamans, whose bodies are
feline dewclaw that facilitates tree climbing (Wolfe and neither horizontal nor vertical, are almost all human
Sleeper 1995:17). These multi-animal, but decidedly footed. Thus, the presentation of one element that is
non-human, feet are shown as crescent shaped and physically "impossible" in this reality is often balanced
hang straight down from the leg; not being flat or by one that is "possible"; this artistic strategy seemingly
perpendicular to the body or the "ground," they do not solves the problem of showing a figure as fundamentally
convey the possibility of standing upon them. The two things at once. It also may help signal that the
bird-in-flight foot thus seems to supercede other shaman who seems to be on this plane is actually
interpretations. There are never any indications that this elsewhere (or "elsewhen"). At the core of shamanic art is
foot is actually a shoe or boot (no color distinction or the paradox?at least for us?that a shaman is a person,
line crosses the ankle and the protruding back talon yet at that moment is not in a human state. Hence to
makes an unlikely shape for footwear; by contrast, Maya juxtapose parts of the body that inhabit different states of
jaguar skin sandals come to mind as clearly delineated). being captures this experiential concept of multiple
Thus, some of the most otherwise "human" Paracas simultaneous presences. Combination of opposites
figures have a fundamentally transformed part of their likewise encapsulates the shaman's mediating role in the
body, an animal foot that tellingly propels them out of cosmic landscape.
normal human gravitational space. Although the term "ritual impersonator" no longer
A second grouping of Paracas figures all have suffices, especially given these impossible views, poses,
horizontally positioned bodies (the inherent position of and non-human body parts, identifying precisely what
cats, reptiles, snakes, and many, if not most, animals) constitutes costume remains problematical with Paracas
along with animal feet, suggesting that these represent figures. Some elements that are commonly interpreted as
even more relatively transformed shamans. A sideways costumes or accessories may well be other things. The
body plus non-weight-bearing feet visually reinforce the "batons" held by many figures, especially ecstatic
sense of suspension, flying, and being beyond the shamans, look suspiciously like entheogenic mushrooms
human pull of gravity. Flying is, of course, the staple (Cantrell n.d.). In one example (Stone-Miller
experience of the vision state (Harner 1973:158-160). 1994:84-85, color pi. 11), for instance, the curved,
Images in which the two human legs hang down from high-pitched triangular tops, long thin stems, and dark
the body absolutely mimic the position of many birds' lines between the two capture the main features of the
legs in flight. When all four arms and legs are shown to psilocybin mushroom very succinctly (Schultes and
dangle, human position can likewise approach the Hofmann 1992:54). Many other figures wear what seem
orientation of the four limbs of felines, crocodiles, to be giant costumes, in which regular tunics, loincloths,
lizards, etc. Not only Paracas but also Nasca and Moche arms, legs, and perhaps some facial features are
images use this device of dangling limbs to present the recognizable below or under their enormous
transitional image in liminal space (Hornor n.d.; Donnan headdresses (e.g., Lavalle and Lang 1983:117). While
1992:50, fig. 85; Berrin 1997:146, cat. no. 86; 147). they are realistically shown, the very grand scale of
Some figures do not fall easily into any of these three these outfits raises some doubt as to which reality they
categories (upright humans with human feet, upright inhabit. Despite the thousands of delicate Paracas
humans with animal feet, sideways humans with animal textiles preserved in the desert sands, none of these
feet). In terms of body position, figures may be upright cloth sharks or falcon costumes has survived. In general,
in their body but have a sideways head, or vice versa. it is rarely clear whether a given face is non-human or
This may be seen as a less extreme version of the bent that of a painted or masked person, or whether a given
back pose of Raul and Turpin's ecstatic shaman, another figure is wearing a cape or has wings (Stone-Miller
way to defy normal gravity, to show the experiential 1994:79-81, color pis. 8a, b; Lavalle and Lang
state of becoming. Disjunction between head and body 1983:89). Again, since extreme facial treatments seek to
position may also be another reference to animal change the human visage to "Other" (usually via
capabilities. For instance, birds can cock their heads colorful pattern and/or feline whiskers, both shamanic
sideways in extreme ways (Juniper and P?rr 1998:69, elements) and since the capes do give the figure
right) and normally horizontal animals can raise their "wings," these distinctions seem more pressing to us
heads high up from their backs, as when crocodiles than they probably were to the makers of such
bellow (Ross 1989:115-117), or dramatically down from intentionally and creatively enigmatic images.
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Stone-Miller: Human-animal imagery, shamanic visions, and ancient American aesthetics 59
Some of the most telling pieces of the puzzle are the both-ends type, to name only two instances. A second,
plethora of emanations that erupt from all body and even more bizarre natural occurrence of two-headed
costume parts, wind around in space, and end most snakes consists of mutants, snakes whose single bodies
often in snakes, but also in other animals, human heads, erupt into two independent heads (Cunningham
or complete figures. Given visionary spirituality, this 1937).11 Such snakes may have two heads and one tail,
aesthetic choice is not surprising: During trances any the most common type, or one head and two tails, or
sinuous element, such as one's own hair or fingers or two heads and two tails. While admittedly not an
the branches of a tree, may become a snake or another everyday sighting, word of these memorable mutations
such being. The depicted emanations often defy would no doubt spread in ancient times as it does today.
identification as exuberant costuming because they link Be that as it may, snakes come with two heads in nature,
directly to the body itself. In particular, if they were whether about six times a year as they molt or for a full
huge pendants sewn onto tunics, besides never being year (the normal lifespan of the two-headed snake), just
found archaeologically, how would they curve upwards, as they purport to in the supernatural realm. "Many
writhe, and float around the body in gravity-defying headedness," in the sense of a person emanating other
splendor? Fantastical bodily emanations, especially heads or a snake with an extra one, may be a
snakes, are one of the core diagnostic features of particularly succinct way to depict a multiplicity of
shamanic imagery (figs. 2, 3; Cordy-Collins 1980; F?rst being states.
1998:173). Almost all ancient American styles include In sum, I would argue that Paracas imagery depicts
figures emanating snakes in one form or another. To many shamans, not simply one. The same can be said
name but a few instances, snakes emerge from the head for Nasca imagery (Hornor n.d.), and that of Moche
of figures at Chav?n de Huantar and Tiwanaku (Stone (Sharon and Donnan 1977), West Mexican (F?rst 1998),
Miller 2002b:32, 34, 38, 39, 132, 133); they are the Maya (Freidel, Schele, and Parker 1993), and many other
tongues and arms of Calima effigies (Labb? 1986:55, figs cultures of the ancient Americas. Such a contention
46, 47; 67, color plate V); at least one Costa Rican toad does not mean that every ancient American image is
effigy dons a two-headed snake (fig. 3b), and Maya that of a shaman (fig. 9, right; see below), neither does
rulers hold the double-headed snake bar, perhaps the the ubiquity of images compromise the special nature of
Vision Serpent itself, as their prime insignia of politico individual shamans. In fact, the myriad images of
spiritual power (Miller 1999:111, ill. 86). As a terrestrial shamans in divergent styles correspond to the cross
animal, the constant molting of the snake obviously cultural pattern that shamans have quite specific
embodies transformation itself.
specialties and are differentiated as to their types and
However, the molting snake can be taken further as a levels of expertise. Shamans universally seem to
prime shamanic emanation based on the corporeal specialize in soul retrieval, childbirth, or the fertility of
animal as it appears in this world. The double-headed particular animals, to name a few (e.g. Buchillet
snake, found so frequently in the corpus of ancient 1992:212). This could help account for the iconographie
American art, does not have to be viewed as purely variety of figures, with whale-shamans being held
symbolic (as did F?rst 1998:173). There are two ways in responsible for fish fertility and butterfly-shamans for
which a double-headed snake can be transferred to art successful pollination. In terms of proficiency, there also
directly from the observation of nature and thus can seems to be a differentiation of levels of shamanic
exist in the trancing shaman's memory. At the beginning power and ability, garnered in long, arduous
of a snake's molting process its old, shadowy skin head apprenticeships and demonstrated in numerous vision
and its newly revealed solid head are actually adjacent experiences associated with high rates of cure. One's
to one another (Mattison 1986:73). Later in the process, level of expertise could be shown in the relative amount
the old head travels down the body to lodge briefly at of costumed versus transformed body, i.e., the attainment
the tail before being fully sloughed off as part of the of the full animal self, and in the relative horizontality of
entire inside-out skin. Thus, these two versions of a truly the overall position, i.e., flying prowess. For instance, the
"two-headed" snake exist, as magical yet real moments modern but traditional Siona of Colombia distinguish
of multiplicity within natural cycles. Both types of
double snakes are depicted in art: a Costa Rican
11. Hundreds have been documented, from ancient Greek
entheogenic toad image displays the side-by-side-head accounts to worldwide web reports to a recent children's publication,
type (fig. 3b), while the Maya serpent bar and Vision the November 2003 Scholastic Reader. They occur about one in
Serpent in Yaxchil?n Lintel 25 represent the heads-at 10,000 births.
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60 RES 45 SPRING 2004
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Stone-Miller: Human-animal imagery, shamanic visions, and ancient American aesthetics 61
Figure 10. Jaguar Effigy. Central America, Costa Rica, Diquis. Period VI, a.D.
1000-1520. Basalt. 73/4x 133/4x 5V2 ?n. (19.6 x 34.9 x 14 cm). 1991.4.213. Ex
coll. William C. and Carol W. Thibadeau, Michael C. Carlos Museum (Photograph
by Michael McKelvey).
(by the dark fur around them) and human eyes (by from referencing the point of view of animals ("I saw
eyelashes). Artists may add characteristics that occur in only necks") to the fear felt prey (when the glinting eyes
neither humans nor animals, such as the orange dots in of the predator capture you in their sight), and from
the corners of all the eyes in figure 5. This is one of any seeing well in the dark (shamans have brilliant visions at
number of methods to indicate special sight abilities by night) to the Other Side as a mirror reflection of this one
creating special eyes. Separate animal and human (Saunders 1988, 1990; Stone-Miller 2002a:xxvi). Many
figures may share similar special eyes, while other transformational human-animal images originally may
human figures do not, so as to show one person as have had shiny inlaid eyes, as suggested for Olmec
animal-transformed and the other as normal (figs. 9 [left, statuary (Reilly 1989:8). Besides eyes, various other
right], vis-?-vis 10). In shamanic art, images of powerful features may be effectively altered or conflated in these
humans seem to adopt animal eyes in part because artistic meldings, such as human ears on a crocodile
jaguars and other predators have eyesight far superior to (fig. 11), bared teeth on humans (figs. 9, left; 10), and
that of humans, especially at night when humans are abstract pelt/body markings including jaguar's lower
most vulnerable and shamanic rituals take place. Many limb stripes (figs. 6-10; Perry 1970:69).
of the animals prominent in the tropical American The challenges inherent in depicting humans with
shamanic cultures and their imagery are physically animal selves can inspire artists to show a multiple
endowed with the tapetum lucidum (a membrane being as multi-sided. Shamans' profoundly dual selves
behind the retina that reflects light back into the eye so may have their human and animal sides rendered
as to multiply dramatically the ability to see in low-light literally as two things, as in a rare early Classic Maya
situations) including felines, crocodilians, owls, and incensario (figs. 5a-c). The welded back-to-back lid
various other nocturnal animals (Ross 1989:56; Gilbert figures unite a sun divinity in its old man form with its
1997:105). Such eerie, mirror-reflecting eyes represent jaguar way or animal spirit double. Both sit upright in
the shamanic visionary experience at various levels: the exact same, fully human pose, the kingly "posture of
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62 RES 45 SPRING 2004
royal ease" (Schaffer 1991).12 Significantly, each figure somewhat transitional, for instance, the protruding
has its right leg bent and its left leg dangling, so that humanoid nose and the not-quite-round eyes. Certainly
they patently do not take mirror-image positions; the the selective placement of decoration only on the limbs,
clear artistic message is that they are duplicate aspects around the neck of the figure, the vessel rim, and down
of one being. However, the jaguar self takes a certain the back, are not "realistic," as jaguars are spotted all
precedence in this composition: when looking at the sun over their bodies, with the lighter belly and darker back
divinity half, one sees him as having both his human (as clearly delineated in fig. 5b). However, since
ears and the round animal ears of his feline way (like the visionary blending of human and feline has already
two sets of ears on some Olmec transformation figures; rendered this a transformed shaman, then terrestrial sorts
Reilly 1989:12, fig. 13). On another level, this piece of realism by definition are not paramount. In shamanic
hieroglyphically embodies the broad concept of the art realism is always selective (for example, in the Maya
animal self: it is perhaps the most literal, three incensario the dark line differentiating darker from
dimensional version of the way glyph known, complete lighter areas is not found on actual jaguars). There are
with wavy intersection where spots give way to skin creative elements that speak to the essence of the jaguar,
(compare fig. 5c to Houston and Stuart 1989:3, fig. 1). however, such as the fact that the spots are actually tiny
Although the idea of the co-essence is so culturally and abstract jaguars themselves (especially visible on the
spiritually central, images as overt as this are very proper right upper leg). Perhaps this idiosyncratic
unusual in Maya art and in ancient American aesthetics treatment of the rosettes conveys that the shaman in
as a whole. Indeed, perhaps the idea of the animal spirit animal mode has the power of "jaguar concentrate."
was so fundamental that it did not necessitate In addition, when moved, the piece produces a
such obvious explication very often, even by the strong rattle from the movement of clay balls in the
documentary-minded Maya. However, this piece takes hollow legs and the mouth cavity. The sound is strikingly
one step beyond duality, representing the fact that Maya like the actual low grumbling voice of the jaguar (Krause
notions of transformation involved complex relationships 1996).13 Its head is positioned low on the vessel/body as
of human, divine, and animal ways (Freidel, Schele, and seen in the predatory cat when it growls and lowers its
Parker 1993:190-192). The two human faces on either head to stalk its prey (Perry 1970:51). Even the stripes
side of the base suggest that the dual figure lid represents on the lower parts of the four limbs, which might seem
a vision in the human shaman's likewise impossibly dual fanciful in a spotted cat, have a basis in actual jaguar
head. Humans become animals, animals become markings: small spots often meld into stripes there and
divinities, and divinities have human forms. As on the chest or head (ibid:106), perhaps the origin of the
mentioned above, all the eyes in the composition are otherwise fanciful spotted area around the head (figs. 9,
bulging and entranced, with orange dots in the corners, 10; Perry 1970:69; jaguars do not have manes or ruffs to
a special characteristic found in neither jaguar nor which this zigzag area might refer). This piece aptly
human eyes. Eyes serve here to reinforce the idea that shows how the ancient American artist, although freed
all four of these images, two human, one supernatural, by visionary fluidity from strict adherence to normal
and one animal, are aspects of each other and all fall appearances, selectively undertook to convey important
well outside of earthly parameters. aspects of the natural subject even in a transformational
Two Costa Rican solutions to the jaguar-human being.
problem differ from this Maya one in interesting ways. Another style and medium of ancient Costa Rica,
The Rataky-style piece (fig. 8), a high-quality example of Diquis stonework of the southwestern zone (figs. 9, 10),
a fairly common type from later northwestern Costa Rica shows us that in some cases only a comparison between
and southwestern Nicaragua, is almost completely separate human and jaguar effigies can reveal the precise
jaguar in form except for the vertical body position that character of their shamanic interdigitation. The male
posits its front paws as "hands" on the "knees" of its figure (fig. 9, right) betrays no animal characteristics and
back ones. This telltale posture of shamanic trance or has crescent-shaped eyes, a variant on the more typical
meditation echoes that of the lid figures of the Maya almond-shaped human eyes. However, the female in
piece and many others (figs. 2, 4). Other features are figure 9, left (identifiable by her breasts) and the feline
effigy in figure 10 share slanted almond-shaped eyes,
12. Incidentally, this piece represents a missing link between the
Olmec and the Late Classic Maya images of this important posture 13. The jaguar's vocalizations can be heard around the fourth
(Stone-Miller 2002a:cat. no. 1). minute of the recording.
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Stone-Miller: Human-animal imagery, shamanic visions, and ancient American aesthetics 63
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64 RES 45 SPRING 2004
Figure 12. Flute in the Form of a Bird-Transformed Shaman. Central America, Costa Rica,
Greater Nicoya, Mora Polychrome, Guabal Variety. Period V-Period VI, a.D. 800-1200.
Ceramic. 31/2 x 21/2 x 81/2 diam. in. (8.8 x 6.5 x 22 diam. cm). 1991.4.288. Gift of William
C. and Carol W. Thibadeau, Michael C. Carlos Museum (Photograph by Dana Haugaard).
This may be a more favored Maya, perhaps even more 1; Stone-Miller 2002a:cat. no. 521) and animate objects
characteristically Mesoamerican, formal solution that (Berrin 1997:154; Quilter 1990), two additional
could be termed "additive duality." By contrast, Costa shamanic ?mages of multiplicity.
Rican versions seem to prefer what could be called I hope to have suggested here that ancient American
"embedded duality," two beings within one body, art confronted the paradoxical nature of visionary
whether proportionately favoring the jaguar (figs. 8a, b) imagery when it took on the problems of depicting
or the human (fig. 9, left) to frame the "Other." The non becoming rather than being. Since visions are by
shamanic human is patently left out of this liminal definition out of the ordinary, and specific visions will
status, "only a man" rather than a multiple being. In have their own character despite common features,
these few examples at least, the Andean images also there can be no singular way to show animal
nest more than one being in a single body, and often transformation. Ancient American artists of many stylistic
leave only one bit of the Other?an eye or a mouth?as traditions, perhaps in reflection of larger cultural
a reminder of the transformed state. Of course, no one predispositions, chose among the many possible modes
piece or two works of art can represent an entire culture in which to call into question the unitary human form. It
area. For instance, although still typically combining remains for a more ambitious study to fully elaborate the
animal and human in the same body, there are Amerindian predilection for amalgams of animals and
numerous other Moche- and other Andean-style images persons. These rich ?mages of non-corporeal human
of transitional states of being that chose other modes, bodies, simultaneous beings, sightless eyes seeing
perhaps the dominant one being human bodies with myriad wonders, and feet that never touch down seek to
animal heads, such as the famous owl-headed shaman represent the paradoxical realities of the Other Side as
(Sharon and Donnan 1977:380, left). It remains for a experienced in shamanic trance. It may behoove us to
full-scale study to compare a significant number of accommodate "seeing only necks" or "having the plants
different ancient American versions of animal drink us" in order to reconstruct more appropriately the
transformation, and to include plant beings (such as fig. ancient American artistic sensibility.
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Stone-Miller: Human-animal imagery, shamanic visions, and ancient American aesthetics 65
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66 RES 45 SPRING 2004
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