pala have the nosepiece in the form ofa horn on the head, 
it is the tail that forms the nosepiece in the deer efligy 
snuffer from Oaxaca. Such choices on the part of the 
prehistoric pipe makers cannot be considered to be arbi- 
trary. If one may venture some guesses, the horn atop 
the head as nosepiece may relate to the well known and 
widespread concept of horns—both single and double— 
as asymbol and even a source of shamanic or supernatu- 
ral power (I*urst 1965). Single horns on the forehead are 
a characteristic especially ofa certain class of Colima figu- 
rines, but they also occur elsewhere in Mesoamerica (e. g. 
at Tlatileo, Tlapacoya, Chalcatzingo, Nochipala, Monte 
Alban, ete.) and even in Peru, especially in Nazea art. 
As for the nosepiece of the deer effigy pipe, this might 
have to do with the concept of the deertail as magical 
power object in some North American shamantic prac- 
tices and beliefs. Among the Huichol, for example, the 
deertail is an important element in the shaman’s equip- 
ment, as it is in Papago shamanism. Likewise, it is 
hardly insignificant that the name of one of the principal 
Huichol supernaturals is Tamatst Mava Kwaat, Elder 
Brother Deer ‘Tail. 
The association of deer, divine inebriant and shaman 
which we perceive archaeologically in the Monte Alban 
snuffing pipe and ethnographically in Huichol and Cora 
religion, is itself an important culture-historical problem 
that remains to be seriously explored. Andean art dating 
to the fifth or sixth century A.1). suggests that there 
was something very like these Mesoamerican associations 
also in Peru. A common theme on Moche IV painted 
ceramics is a ritual deer hunt, in which the hunter is 
clearly not meant to be an ordinary man but a god, cul- 
ture hero, or great shaman (Plate IX). Moche painters 
consistently depict the deer in association with a shrub 
or tree which, though to some degree conventionalized, 
[ 20 | 
