Who made these unusual ancient ‘puppets'—and left them atop a pyramid?
'On the one hand, the face has this empty, absent look,' Szymański says. The figurine's eyes appeared to stare into the distance and its mouth was open. It seemed aloof, or maybe full of disdain. But its expression seemed to change as the researchers turned its head. At a sharp angle, it looked a bit angry. Viewed from above, it looked perhaps scared. With the fading light, 'we had this weird sensation that we found something eerie,' he says. After four days of excavation, the team had uncovered five clay figurines in a layer dated to 410–380 B.C.
How were these figurines used?
The heads of each the three large figurines have a socket into which the neck fits. A string threaded through two holes in the top of the head can be used to turn the head. The lack of clothes and jewelry 'may be because they were made to be versatile,' depicting different types of people, Szymański says.
Once the team reconstructed the figures' positions in the ground relative to each other, they noticed that, if the figures were standing upright, they would be in a line facing west. That suggested a purposeful arrangement, meant to convey a message, the authors wrote. 'From the very beginning, we saw them as puppets—as actors made of clay,' Szymański says.
Other clay figurines have been found in Mesoamerica, a region that includes parts of Mexico and Central America. But most are broken pieces, sometimes in middens, ancient household trash pits. So far, archaeologists have only unearthed one other set of intact figures from the spot they were likely laid to rest.
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