52 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
rings are abundantly represented and in considerable 
variety. We may be sure that weaving was rather 
highly developed because many garments such as 
shirts, skirts, and aprons are painted or incised with 
geometric designs. Body painting, or tattooing, appears 
to have been a common usage. Among weapons the 
ailatl, or spear-thrower, was already known and knobby 
clubs seem to have been popular. Men are shown 
beating on drums and turtle shells, while women nurse 
children and carry water. Since the large figures of 
clay are often found in tombs it js not impossible that 
Fig. 16. Textile Designs painted on Archaic Effigies. 
they were intended to be portraits of the dead. Many 
have a startling quality of caricature. 
Archaic ert is a pretty certain index of the religion 
then in vogue. There is a notable absence of purposely 
grotesque or compounded figures representing divinities 
such as will be found in the later horizons. Dogs are 
rather frequently modeled in clay and were apparently 
