Art and Archaeology of Challuabamba, Ecuador

6. Effigy Vessels and Figurines

97 When we lay out the figurines, effigy vessels, and effigy attachments to vessels according to their stratigraphic locations, it becomes apparent that certain features of form and style cluster at different stratigraphic levels. Level being in general a function of time, it follows that the clusters represent conventions accepted during certain periods. Since form and style can be defined and their conventions represent social agreements (“A work of art is a statement about the nature of reality”: Arnheim: 1964:21), we can reconstruct some of the conventions of the periods when those clusters of works were made. The general term “effigy” refers to a representation of a human figure or other natural form (which at Challuabamba was often a bird but might be a fish, frog, jaguar, etc.). The examples under discussion here are three-dimensional ceramic forms: freestanding small clay sculptures, pots modeled into the forms of living creatures, or modeled effigies attached to standard pot forms. The general order of development was solid clay figurines, then solid effigy elements (usually heads) attached to pots, then pots modeled into an effigy form, and finally hollow effigy heads attached to pots and, probably about the same time, hollow figurines and finally faces modeled on the exterior walls of bowls. Solid Figurines There are only five independent, free-standing human figures in the ceramic collection from Challuabamba. Three come from Level 5 of Cut 3, which places them among the earliest items in our sequence (Figure 6.1a–c). Although they vary in size from small to very small, they share several traits. All are solid clay, well fired, with no postfire additions, roughly modeled. The heads are all simple masses without indications of hair or ears, with large noses without nostrils, slashed mouths, and punched or slashed eyes. The neck of Figure 6.1a is so long that it probably had no arms; and while 6.1b had arms, 6.1c had Effigy Vessels and Figurines 6 Art and Archaeology of Challuabamba, Ecuador 98 no arms but did have divided legs. There are no indications of gender on 6.1a and b, but 6.1c is clearly female. These are stratigraphically the earliest effigy forms, and their general consistency implies an early local type. Figurines already had a long history in the Valdivia culture by the time Challuabamba was occupied, so we must assume a derivation from Valdivia. Few published examples of Valdivia figurines are very directly comparable, but an early publication (Evans et al. 1959:115) shows several figurines of the “coarse variety” (“variedad tosca”), which share the bald head and slashed or punched features that compare with our examples. At Real Alto, in a Valdivia IV deposit, Marcos (1988:96–99; my translation) found four figurines “en las que se marcan por primera vez la nariz” (in which for the first Figure 6.1. Solid figurines: a, Cut 3.J Level 5 (3.5 cm high); b, Cut 3.G Level 5b (2.4 cm); c, Cut 3.K Level 5 (6.5 cm); d, Cut 2 Level 2 (2.1 cm); e, Cut 3.E Level 3 (4.0 cm); f, Cut 3.C Level 2 (4.9 cm): this has a break on the back where it was attached to a surface. Effigy Vessels and Figurines 99 time the nose is indicated). That feature as well as blocklike bodies and less emphasis on the hair show some similarity to Challuabamba ’s earliest figurines. But in general it appears that the Challuabamba figurine makers began with an independent vision of a female figure with a face but no secondary sexual characteristics or cultural attributes or actions. The figurine 6.1f, found in Level 2, introduces many new features: although solid and a complete figure (with the right arm broken off), it was not freestanding, and the treatment of eyes, ears, hands, and feet is new. A broken area down the middle of the flat back shows where it was attached, presumably to a pot. The round eyes, punched into an appliquéd button, depart from the older slashed eye; the same technique is used to indicate earplugs, a new feature, as are the modeled hands and the feet indicated by the line separating them from the legs. In Level 2 of Cut 3 it is apparent that we have entered a new period. The fragments 6.1d and e show other steps in the...