Mar 26, 2024
Jaguar Mortar
Chorrera, 1500-300 BC (Late Formative)
Works such as this one are thought to have served as ritual mortars for the preparation of hallucinogenic snuffs, to be inhaled by shamans to facilitate their interaction with the spirit realm. Although this vessel exhibits some fine scratches within the bowl, it does not seem to have received extensive use. It is possible that this particularly elegant version was created specifically for mortuary internment- it may have thus been used a single time, containing freshly prepared snuff for a deceased shaman to take with him into the spirit realm.
