THE SHARK-MONSTER IN OLMEC ICONOGRAPHY - Imaginary Year

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PHILIP J. ARNOLD III, “The Shark-Monster in Olmec Iconography” Mesoamerican Voices, 2 (2005) Figure 15. Classic-Period Gulf Coast shark-monsters positioned atop headdresses: (a) Cerro de las Mesas Stela 3. After Miller 1991:Figure 2.10a; (b) San Miguel Chapultepec Stela. After Miller 1991:Figure 2.10e. long upper-jaw and lower, reduced jaw noted previously. 16 Still more explicit are the four smaller shark-monsters perched along the back of the larger fish zoomorph. Each of these four smaller versions is depicted with a large tooth that erupts from an extended upper jaw. These shark supernaturals also display the characteristic bulbous nose and a backward arching dorsal fin. Finally, several of the images exhibit a heterocercal tail that occasionally accompanies shark-monster and other piscine representations from the Late Formative onward (compare with Figure 7). 17 Two additional stelae include the sharkmonster as an integral component of the 24 ruler’s headdress. These sculptures are Cerro de las Mesas Stela 3 and the unprovenienced San Miguel Chapuletpec Stela (Miller 1991; Sterling 1943). Although the two monuments may have come from different locales, they clearly depict the same scene or commemorative event (Figure 15). Each stela contains a standing figure in profile, facing toward the viewer’s left. The left side of the monuments carries a glyph column—unfortunately, these glyphs are mostly eroded and have not been deciphered. The figures’ headdresses, although not exact copies, are strikingly similar. Seated atop a zoomorphic mask is the shark-monster. The creature has an opened
PHILIP J. ARNOLD III, “The Shark-Monster in Olmec Iconography” Mesoamerican Voices, 2 (2005) Figure 16. Early Classic Maya shark-monsters as headdress elements and personified trees: (a) image from a Dumbarton Oaks jade pectoral; (b) image from Kaminaljuyu Stela 11. Redrawn from Schele and Miller 1985:Plate 32a. mouth with large upper jaw. The characteristic nose is better represented on the Cerro de las Mesas stela (Figure 15a), while the large front tooth is easier to identify on the San Miguel Chapultepec monument (Figure 15b). Like their La Mojarra counterparts, the bodies of both shark-monsters hang down toward the nape of the neck of the standing figure and exhibit a bifurcated tail. The shark-monster-as-headdress also occurs within the Maya region. These representations reveal an interesting divergence from the Gulf examples; within the Maya area the Late Formative-Early Classic shark-monster images are explicitly incorporated into the world tree (Figure 16). Two examples that clearly mark this integration are found on the Dumbarton Oaks Pectoral and Kaminaljuyu Stela 11 (Coe 1966; Schele and Miller 1986:Plate 32a; 25 Stross 1994:12-13). In both cases the sharkmonster retains is place atop an individual’s headdress. Both images depict the shark supernatural with an opened mouth, clearly showing the extended upper jaw and reduced lower jaw. Kaminaljuyu Stela 11 (Figure 16b) also indicates the large front tooth of the shark-monster. Moreover, both images carry three dots on their body, reminiscent of the shark-monster imagery on the Young Lord and the tri-dot motifs on several tooth-tipped scepters. The most notable similarity among the two Maya versions of the shark-monster headdress is that their dorsal fins and tails are morphed into sprigs of foliage. Thus, these shark-monsters have become “world trees”; by donning this image, rulers declare themselves to be the axis mundi of their realm (e.g., Schele 1995; Schele and Miller 1986:108-109).
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THE SHARK-MONSTER IN OLMEC ICONOGRAPHY - Imaginary Year

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