54 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



Archaic art 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. We miss en- 

 tirely the characteristic Mexican gods such as Tlaloc 

 and Ehecatl. Dogs are frequently modeled in clay 

 and were apparently developed into a rather special 



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Fig. 16. Textile Designs painted on Archaic Effigies. 



domestic breed. Snakes are sometimes found as a 

 plastic decoration on pottery but there are few signs of 

 serpent worship. We can find no evidence that human 

 sacrifice was practised. The presence of human 

 figurines in graves has already been mentioned and the 

 suggestion made that some of them may have been in- 

 tended as portraits of the dead. Nude female figurines 

 in sitting or standing positions have an unbroken distri- 

 bution from Mexico into South America and it is not un- 

 likely the primitive agriculturists associated them with 



