Earthenware Figurine, Female
date: label: Accession Date
content: 20 Apr 1933
name: label: Donor Name
content: Corp U S M C Emil M. Krieger
notes: label: Notes
content: Information below is from entry # 53, pp. 484-485 in Wingfield, Laura M. 2009. Envisioning Greater Nicoya: Ceramic figural art of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, c. 800 BCE-1522 CE. Ph.D. diss., Emory University: Female Effigy Greater Nicoya, Nicaragua, La Finca Casa Blanca, Ometepe Island, Rivas Department, Chibchan? Late Period IV / Transitional Period?, 200-500 CE? Red on Cream Transitional? - Handmade earthenware with burnished red slip (2.5 YR 4/6); light buff surface, possibly a light slip (10 YR 5/3); burnished surface (5 YR 4/3) 20.3 x 12.4 x 11.7 Brief Description: Effigy of a Birthing(?) Woman with Hands on Thighs Comments: The colors here are very similar to those used for many Sacasa Striated womb urns, primarily found on Ometepe Island (Brannen n.d.a [2006]), where this effigy was found also. Similarly, the legs on this figure are striated and curved in an almost womb-like shape. Her simian facial features also fit with the abundance of monkey imagery in the petroglyphs of the island (personal observation 2005) and perhaps with the Bribri belief that shamans can only come from the Jaguar or Monkey clans (see Ch. 3 Animals). She appears to be a shaman as she is kneeling and meditating. She is not dressed and is exposing her genitals by kneeling with legs spread slightly. Her overall design in terms of form, as a kneeling, meditating, fertile woman, is similar to effigies from the Transitional Period, Also, the overall appearance of red on cream suggests this piece comes from the Transitional Period, yet the similarity in decoration here to objects of the much later Sacasa Striated style (c. 1000-1522) might place the piece later in time.
label: Notes
content: Gender: Female Age: Mature Adult Animal: Human-Monkey? Head/Hair/Headwear: hair swept back from forehead and running down back, burnished to appear dark brown? At the back center of the head is a large amorphous firing hole. - modeled and burnished Face Decoration: none - Eyes: almond, vacuous - appliqué large lids almost touch but are distant enough to reveal a rounded eyeball between Eye Brows: none - Eye Lashes: none - Nose: narrow, triangular, upturned slightly, with nostrils visible - appliqué and modeled Mouth: wide, thick, pursed with an overall protrusion similar to a monkey's mouth - appliqué and modeled Ears: curved, large, protruding from the head (human) - appliqué and modeled Ear Adornment: none - Neck: long - modeled Necklace: none - Chest/Breasts: protruding breasts high on the chest - modeled Chest/Breasts Adornment: red swath over arms and breasts to neck - painted Belly: pregnant? -- bulging under heavy breasts - modeled Hips: wide - modeled
label: Notes
content: Pubic Region: prominent female genitalia (Note that this region along with the inner thighs was restored; so we cannot be sure how much of this was original.) - modeled Arms: hanging down at sides - modeled Arm Decoration: see Chest/Breasts Adornment - painted Hands: on thighs with five(?) digits visible - modeled Back: arched forward - modeled Buttocks: rounded slightly, large - modeled and striated Tail: none - Legs: kneeling? The abstract modeling of the hollow, bulbous legs in addition to the damage to the inner thighs and pubic region blocks our reading of this effigy as one in the kneeling pose of parturition for birth, but the remaining features suggest this. - modeled Leg Decoration: striated - striated Feet: none - Accoutrements: none - Other: firing hole on underside - cutout
label: Record Last Modified
content: 30 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Lake Nicaragua, Ometepe Island, Rivas, Nicaragua, Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 123959
label: USNM Number
content: A364926-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Figure