Hordes of 'Pretty Lady' dolls were found at Tlatilco and are believed to have connections with fertility rites. (Photo:Mary Harrsch)
At the dawn of the Formative era, 2000BC, the evolution of teosinte to maize was complete, ushering in a new era of sedentism. Teosinte is the ancestor of maize and bears tiny, edible fruits. Over thousands of years, the early hunter-gatherers of Mesoamerica selectively bred the most productive teosinte plants until they were large enough and fruitful enough to support a settled population.
Simple agricultural villages flourished in Mesoamerica’s valleys and mountains, bereft of complex social structures and organised along purely egalitarian lines. No longer the tribal nomads, these early peoples were at the mercy of nature’s forces. The success – or failure – of their harvests depended entirely upon environmental and climatic conditions. Shamanism flourished.
The ancient shaman was an intermediary between the worlds. Healer, counsellor and diviner, the shaman’s knowledge included the use of medicinal herbs, sacred songs and healing rites. More than this, he was acquainted with the unseen otherworld of spiritual – and natural – forces. He knew the secret language of the wind, the rain and the sun and he knew how to ask favours from them. Shamanism continues to be practised across Mesoamerica. The maize plant – a symbol interchangeable with man – plays a central role in the cosmic hierarchy.
The evolution of maize was accompanied by another major milestone in the evolution of Mesoamerican civilisation: the use of fired ceramics. The earliest reliably dated pottery of the region belongs to a tradition called Ocos. Ocos pottery originated from the Pacific coast of Chiapas and Guatemala, but has also been found across the continent from Veracruz to Honduras. It seems that trade and communication between settlements was already widespread at this time.
Clay was utilised for the production of food storage vessels, as well as the production of figurines. The hordes of ‘pretty lady’ dolls unearthed at Tlatilco in Mexico City indicate a preoccupation with fertility, if the accepted interpretation of their oversized thighs is correct. Other figurines have a playful aspect and depict day-to-day scenes like women nursing babies. Yet others reveal an embryonic fascination with deformity with little hunchbacks and dwarves. Clay vessels used in human burials were also uncovered at Tlatilco, indicating a ceremonial aspect to death had probably developed.
Towards the end of the formative era, chiefdoms emerged with increasingly complex social structures including craft specialisation and simple stratification. Surveys in Oaxaca have revealed large residences probably belonging to the chief, as well as public ceremonial buildings (Flannery and Marcus). Similar research in coastal Chiapas – the heart of Ocos culture – also reveals the emergence of such chiefdoms (Clark and Blake).
