potbelly sculptures
Potbelly Sculptures as False Mortuary Bundles
By: ARNAUD F. LAMBERT – The present paper investigates the possibility that the potbelly sculptures of southeastern Mesoamerica may have served as false (or effigy) mortuary bundles in public rituals tying ancestor veneration to emerging forms of rulership among the Preclassic Maya. Correspondences between potbelly sculptures and the artistic and archaeological evidence for the use…