Beschreibung:
Funerary statues in terra cotta from western Mexico. Even if the archaeological evidence remains scanty, a precise iconographical study of the funerary statues in terra cotta found in the well tombs of the states of Nayarit, Jalisco and Colima in western Mexico is possible. Beyond different stylistic forms, this study shows that the statues are not mere evocations of the various aspects of daily life, but that they have magic and religious values. They illustrate ritual practice (purification, penitence, prayer), beliefs of a shamanistic nature (purification by breath or suction, ingestion of peyote, tobacco consumption) or of an eschatological nature (access to the beyond, protection from death).