Mysterious Figurine Of Seated Olmec Woman With Polished Hematite Disk

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - The Olmec developed an iconic and sophisticated artistic style as early as the second millennium BC.

This civilization is best known for creating colossal heads carved from giant boulders that have fascinated the public and archaeologists alike since they were discovered in the mid-19th century.

Seated female figure with polished hematite disk, Mexico, Tabasco, La Venta. Image credit: Museo Nacional de Antropología. Consejo Nacional para La Cultura y Las Arte - INAH- Mexico - Javier Hinojosa

Apart from the colossal heads, the Olmec left many other artifacts.

One of them is a small jadeite and hematite figurine, known as a "Seated female figurine with polished hematite disk." The figure is only  7.7 x 4.7 x 3.8 cm and was discovered at what is believed to be the burial site dated to 900-500 BC, which belonged to an elite Olmec woman, in La Venta.

The woman has her hands clasped to her chest below a piece of polished hematite, which the Olmec used for mirrors.

La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco.

Researchers believe the Olmec regarded mirrors as an entryway from the underworld to the living and used them in ritual and burial events. Only influential, highly respected people in Olmec society are thought to have had them.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

Updated on October 13, 2022

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