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Olmec Mask
Olmec mask. This magnificent work is about
three thousand years old and it might have come from the area bordering
Guerrero, Oaxaca and Puebla, zones of Olmec influence. The mask measures
10.2 cm in height and displays classic Olmec features, which evoke the
jaguar, in addition to the characteristic V-shaped cleft in the upper part
of the forehead. The Mexicas evidently recognized the artistic value of
this mask and deposited it in Offering 20, some 2500 years after it was
made, as one of their most prized possessions. How it arrived in the hands
of the Mexicas is a matter open to interpretation, ranging from it was
an inherited heirloom passed on from generation to generation, to an accidental
discovery made by a rural farmer.
Last Modified: January 14, 1998.
Museo del Templo Mayor, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e História,
México.
Seminario #8, Centro Histórico. Cuauhtémoc,
México, D.F. 06060
©Copyright
1997
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