Jaguars and Were-Jaguars: Olmec Art and Iconography

Introduction

There is no question that jaguars were important to Mesoamerican religion and culture, and the Olmecs were no exception. However, previous interpretations of Olmec art and architecture appear to have erroneously placed more emphasis on the jaguar than is actually warranted. While a significant part of Mesoamerican culture, the jaguar did not play quite the all-encompassing role that many archaeologists have attributed to it. Specifically, the so-called "were-jaguar" motif might be representative of something other than a jaguar — or, at the very least, may contain elements of other animals in addition to the feline. Among the alternatives proposed, it has been suggested that the "were-jaguar" babies were, instead, crocodilians, toads, deformed human children, snakes, or iguanas. This essay examines the most convincing of these arguments: the possibility that the "were-jaguar" actually represents congenitally deformed babies, were-crocodilians, and toad mothers.

The Olmec people are well known for their various sculptures, figurines, celts, and other artwork. At the heartland of their civilization, off the Gulf of Mexico coast near the Yucatan Peninsula, many examples of Olmec artwork have been discovered. These artworks reveal that the Olmec people were quite familiar with their jungle companions and incorporated them into their mythology on a frequent basis (Coe 2002).

Background: Jaguars and Nahuales in Olmec Culture

The idea of animal-men — in which human traits are associated with those of one or more animals — was very prominent throughout the Olmec period. Archaeologists have also found two or more animals combined to form composite monsters. Over generations, such mythical beasts began to embody religious concepts for the Olmec and would eventually become anthropomorphic gods. These variations of animal-human and animal-animal combinations can be explained by the concept of nahual. A nahual may be an animal mythically associated with an individual human being so closely that his life depends upon that of the animal: if the animal is injured or dies, the man experiences the same injury or death. The nahual can also be the animal representation of a god. Throughout Mesoamerican prehistory, animals such as the serpent, the eagle, and the bat were revered, given special merit, associated with one another and with human beings, and effectively granted nahuales status (Bernal 1969: 98–99). As Nicholas Saunders has observed, "The physical and symbolic associations between large predatory cats, warfare, and pre-eminent social status are particularly evident in Mesoamerica, where images of felines, feline-like creatures, and humans with feline attributes, apparel, or accoutrements, are found in a number of chronologically and spatially separated cultures" (Saunders 1994: 104).

The jaguar, holding primacy among the Olmecs, could have been simultaneously the totem and the nahual of the supreme ruler. While today the jaguar is viewed as a large but seldom dangerous creature, remarkable chiefly for its spotted coat, this was not the view commonly held by prehistoric Mesoamericans. To them, the jaguar symbolized terror, the mysteries of the jungle, life, and the other world. It is no surprise that the jaguar permeates all forms of Olmec expression. As a deified animal, its essence is captured in magnificent jade sculptures, man-jaguar masks, and related objects. As Olmec culture developed, the jaguar image evolved as well, becoming far removed from a realistic representation of the animal as features characteristic of human beings and other animals — such as the bird and serpent — were added. Jaguars have even been found depicted with feathers over their eyes in place of eyebrows (Bernal 1969: 98–99). As Saunders observed, "There is nothing obvious in the way in which a culture will regard a particular animal, or in the way in which it may utilize the animal's empirical behaviour or appearance in its symbolic reasoning…" (Saunders 1994: 104). The image of the jaguar as held by the Olmec people should therefore be viewed as a cultural assessment, deriving its worth as an indicator of human activity (Saunders 1994: 104).

The "were-jaguar" is an iconic and important figure that archaeologists have unearthed from Olmec culture. This figure has come to be known by its distinctive "snarling mouth, toothless gums or long, curved fangs, and even claws," almond-shaped eyes, fleshy lips, and a cleft forehead (Coe 2002: 64). While scholars originally believed that the "were-jaguar" was linked to a religious mythology surrounding the copulation between a male jaguar and a female human, radically different interpretations have recently surfaced, along with disputes over the validity of the so-called copulation scenes themselves (Davis 1978).

The V-shaped cleft on the top of the head of the "were-jaguar" and its toothless mouth — save for the fangs sometimes depicted — has inspired a different interpretation of this creature by Peter Furst. Furst asserts that this creature is not human at all, but rather the Earth Mother Goddess "in her manifestation as a jaguar-toad" (Furst 1981: 149). For Furst, the V-shaped cleft carries multiple meanings. It represents the feminine, creative portal between worlds. The Olmec acknowledged that "this cleft represents some sort of opening" connected with divinity (Furst 1981: 150). Drawing from various Mesoamerican iconographic studies, Furst determined that the V-shaped cleft functioned primarily as a "sipapu-like" place of emergence from and reentry into the divine, female earth — establishing a connection with the "earth mother." The second interpretation of the cleft that Furst advances is drawn from its strong resemblance to the V-shaped space seen at the top of a toad's head, which splits at a certain point during the molting process. He argues that the toad itself was a quite important animal in the Olmec world, with associations drawn between the toad, the earth, and fertility. Furthermore, the toad's successive amphibious metamorphosis, its toothless carnivorous nature, its frequent molting, and its long life span correspond to "some of the most fundamental aspects of Mesoamerican and Olmec cosmology and symbolism" (Furst 1981: 150).

Furst further supports his theory by pointing to the so-called "fangs" often found in the corners of the mouth of an otherwise toothless figure. He attributes the presence of these "fangs" to the natural molting process of toads: during the final stages of molting, the toad sucks any remnants of shed skin into its mouth, forming what could be mistaken for fangs by some observers. This molting process, Furst argues, was significant to the people of Mesoamerica as a representation of the cycle of death and rebirth — which explains why the toad was revered by the Olmecs. The fact that some effigies are cleft-headed but fangless while others lack a cleft but have fangs supports his thesis that the "were-jaguar" is more toad-like than anything else. These two types of effigies, Furst argues, are indicative of the same being in "different manifestations or symbolic contexts — the one the earth as genetrix…the other the earth in cyclical or seasonal renewal" (Furst 1981: 160). The process of regeneration undergone by species of toad found in Mesoamerica could have symbolized death and rebirth in the earth and its maize crops, with the toad holding an important association with both maize and rainwater in Olmec culture.

Furst's conception of the V-shaped cleft as depicting a toad stands in both unique and complementary contrast to the "were-jaguar" interpretation of the same creature. For Furst, it is not hard to conceive that the "were-jaguar" is actually an "anthropomorphically conceived toad with jaguar characteristics" that serves as a "classic example of transformation and mediation between contrasting but complementary beings, environments, and…cosmic realms" (Furst 1981: 150).

The Were-Jaguar as Toad Mother

Taking an ecological approach to religion — based upon the interaction between the natural environment and society — some archaeologists have argued that the "were-jaguar," in many cases, is a depiction of a crocodilian. Features such as the hand-paw, the upturned lip, and crossing teeth, which had been previously attributed to jaguars, seem more easily explained and understood as crocodilian than anything else. Any one of three species of crocodilians could have been represented by the motif. Crocodilians were an important part of Olmec life. It has been conjectured that, much like the toad, crocodilians represented a connection to fertility, agriculture, weather, and the other world. Crocodilians were likely associated with fertility because a large number of them can exist in a very small space due to their poikilothermic nature. They were associated with weather — specifically thunder and rain — due to the booming, thunderous sound they sometimes emit during mating season. They were also seen as having a supernatural connection to the other world, owing to their emergence from beneath swamp waters as they attacked.

The great importance of crocodilians to the Olmec people probably also stems from the fact that they were a major source of protein. Crocodilians were even traded as food, ornamental material, or religious symbols. It is no wonder that crocodilians were deified, since part of the purpose of religion is to explain and control one's environment. Crocodilians posed a very real threat to human life in Mesoamerica, and it is thus unsurprising that they were honored and worshipped for their power.

Stylistically, it can be argued that features of the "were-jaguar," such as its feathery eyebrows, are actually the crests above the eyes of crocodilians, and that the V-shaped cleft on the head is "derived from the cleft between a crocodilian's orbit eyes" (Stocker 1980: 752). With the decline of Olmec culture, the prominence of the cleft in Olmec art declined as well. The crocodilian's importance waned as Olmec society itself diminished. While Olmec worship of the crocodilian never died out completely, the image of the crocodilian shifted, transformed, and merged with other animals, deities, and religious cult figures to create something wholly new.

Though not questioning the importance of the jaguar itself to the Olmec, the view that the "were-jaguar" motif is actually some sort of crocodilian motif discounts theories of an all-pervasive jaguar in Olmec life. Using a simple ecological approach to religion, it can be concluded that the Olmec, as one of the first civilizations in Mesoamerica, would not have been culturally or religiously advanced enough to create and worship such a complex deity as the "were-jaguar." The "were-jaguar," it is proposed, is a combination of at least four elements — the human, the eagle, the caiman, and the jaguar. Such a highly multifarious and advanced entity would be more plausibly the result of simple cultural and religious beliefs evolving over time into more intricate ones, such as the anthropomorphic deities of the Aztecs.

Through their studies of the "were-jaguar" motif, some archaeologists have been led to believe that the so-called "were-jaguar" effigies are actually depicting children with congenital deformities. This conclusion seems quite reasonable when one takes into account that prehistoric Mesoamericans often portrayed a variety of conditions and diseases in figurines and other artwork. Cranial deformations, facial infections, externally visible cancerous tumors, dwarfism, and leprosy are just some of the maladies depicted in Olmec art. It has been suggested that the cleft forehead of the "were-jaguar" is representative of a congenital abnormality such as spina bifida or cranium bifidum, and that the stressed facial features of the effigy may represent a crying child in pain due to urethral failure, infection, and other symptoms correlated with such conditions.

Conclusion

Furst, Peter T. 1981. Jaguar Baby or Toad Mother: A New Look at an Old Problem in Olmec Iconography. In The Olmec and Their Neighbors: Essays in Memory of Matthew W. Stirling, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson, pp. 149–162. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C.

Murdy, Carson N. 1981. Congenital Deformities and the Olmec Were-Jaguar Motif. American Antiquity 46(4): 861–871.

Saunders, Nicholas J. 1994. Predators of Culture: Jaguar Symbolism and Mesoamerican Elites. World Archaeology 26(1): 104–117.

Stocker, Terry, Sarah Meltzoff, and Steve Armsey. 1980. Crocodilians and Olmecs: Further Interpretations in Formative Period Iconography. American Antiquity 45(4): 740–758.