Temple with two columns - Mezcala

Sculpture of a two-dimensional megalithic temple with two columns and four steps. The base is slightly arched. The staircase is very sparse. The steps are defined by grooves. The opening is large and rectangular. Its four inner sides are slightly concave and rounded corners.
The entablature resting on the columns is surmounted by a cornice and a roof with a flattened top.

Guerrero is a mountainous region in western Mexico, overlooking the Pacific coast. It is known for the famous «polished stone figures», about 5 to 70 cm high, fascinating artists and collectors from all over the world by their great plastic sense and their «modernism». From an archaeological point of view, Guerrero is one of the richest sources of stone objects from the first Mexican cultures.
The ethnologist Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957) studied at length the lithic production of this region, especially around the Balsas River that crosses it from east to west. In 1946 he gave the name of Mezcala to the style of pieces from Guerrero, the name of a local village. His work has led him to identify within this corpus several types of objects: objects of local style AND objects displaying a clear kinship with other cultures, the Olmec culture on the one hand and the civilization of Teotihuacán on the other hand.

Among the objects of local style, the Mezcala art specialist, Carlo Gay (1913-1998), 20 years after Covarrubias, identified 3 traditions dated between 350 and 100 BC: Mezcala art, strictly speaking, Chontal art and Sultepec art. Often compared, the first two styles share many similarities, without however being confused. Mezcala works are recognizable by their abstract design and the sobriety of their features, while Chontal works present a greater realism. In both cases, human stature predominates
Sculpture of a two-dimensional megalithic temple with two columns and four steps. The base is slightly arched. The staircase is very sparse. The steps are defined by grooves. The opening is large and rectangular. Its four inner sides are slightly concave and rounded corners.
The entablature resting on the columns is surmounted by a cornice and a roof with a flattened top.

Guerrero is a mountainous region in western Mexico, overlooking the Pacific coast. It is known for the famous «polished stone figures», about 5 to 70 cm high, fascinating artists and collectors from all over the world by their great plastic sense and their «modernism». From an archaeological point of view, Guerrero is one of the richest sources of stone objects from the first Mexican cultures.
The ethnologist Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957) studied at length the lithic production of this region, especially around the Balsas River that crosses it from east to west. In 1946 he gave the name of Mezcala to the style of pieces from Guerrero, the name of a local village. His work has led him to identify within this corpus several types of objects: objects of local style AND objects displaying a clear kinship with other cultures, the Olmec culture on the one hand and the civilization of Teotihuacán on the other hand.

Among the objects of local style, the Mezcala art specialist, Carlo Gay (1913-1998), 20 years after Covarrubias, identified 3 traditions dated between 350 and 100 BC: Mezcala art, strictly speaking, Chontal art and Sultepec art. Often compared, the first two styles share many similarities, without however being confused. Mezcala works are recognizable by their abstract design and the sobriety of their features, while Chontal works present a greater realism. In both cases, human statuary predominates, although there is also an important production of zoomorphic sculptures, miniature temples, axes, jewellery and ceremonial containers. These traditions are the work of communities established in enclaves on both sides of the Rio Balsas.

As for the other objects found in Guerrero, bearing traces of external influence, they confirm the meeting of the populations of the region with those coming from other territories. The Olmecs, concentrated in the south-east on the coastal plains of the Gulf coast, and the inhabitants of the City of Teotihuacán, the largest pre-Hispanic religious complex located on the high central plateau.

The Olmecs (1500-300 BC), the first complex society in Mesoamerica, demonstrated their presence on the Pacific coast through objects but not only. The monumental statuary, the engravings and the rock paintings, found on some sites of Guerrero, are all proof of a real implantation in the region (caves of Oxtotitlán and Juxtlahuaca, archaeological site of Teopantecuanitlán, among others).

The City of Teotihuacán (300-700 A.D. ) also radiated far beyond its epicentre. As a major religious and urban centre, the city was the focal point for intensive exchanges with other provinces that flourished at the same time. It established trade routes throughout Mesoamerica in order to impose its hegemony and obtain supplies from which it lacked. While obsidian deposits were abundant in the surrounding area, other rocks, especially green stones, were much in demand for their symbolic and economic value. The works bearing the identity of the two territories, found respectively in Guerrero and Teotihuacán, confirm their mutual influence.

Thus, it seems that pre-Hispanic cultures and their artistic expressions cannot be confined to a given region but that a dynamic of exchanges and contacts was indeed at work on the scale of the whole of Mesoamerica, in different places and at different times, leading to the diffusion of works and the mixing of styles.