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Remojadas () is a name applied to a culture, an archaeological site, as well as an
artistic style In the visual arts, style is a "...distinctive manner which permits the grouping of works into related categories" or "...any distinctive, and therefore recognizable, way in which an act is performed or an artifact made or ought to be performed a ...
that flourished on Mexico's Veracruz Gulf Coast from perhaps 100 BCE to 800 CE. The Remojadas culture is considered part of the larger
Classic Veracruz culture Classic Veracruz culture (or Gulf Coast Classic culture) refers to a cultural area in the north and central areas of the present-day Mexican state of Veracruz, a culture that existed from roughly 100 to 1000 CE, or during the Classic era. ...
. Further research into the Remojadas culture is "much needed". The archaeological site has remained largely unexplored since the initial investigations by
Alfonso Medellin Zenil Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...
in 1949 and 1950.


Figurines

Remojadas is particularly known for its pottery and its hollow ceramic figurines. Thousands of these expressive and diverse figurines have been unearthed, found across a wide variety of settings, including burials and
midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
s. Figurines portray deities, rulers, and commoners, as well as many types of animals including dogs and deer. Of particular note are the curious childlike ''Sonrientes'' (smiling face) figurines and faces. Many of the figurines of this period function as
flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
s, whistles, and
ocarina The ocarina is a wind musical instrument; it is a type of vessel flute. Variations exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body. It is traditionally made from c ...
s. Some animal figurines, interpreted as toys or more likely ritual items, are equipped with wheels, one of the few recorded instances of the application of wheel technology in the pre-Columbian Americas. Many figurines have filed teeth, representing a common practice in the Remojadas culture. The earliest figurines were handmade while the later ones were created using molds. In style and in other ways, the figurines have a close kinship with Maya figurines.


''Sonrientes''

The ''Sonrientes'' (smiling faces) are the most well-known of Remojadas figurines, featuring wide smiles on curiously shaped—almost triangular—faces. Often the heads are disembodied. Other times they are attached to childlike bodies with outstretched arms and displayed palms. The smile is rather formalised, usually showing teeth and, on occasion, a tongue sticking out between the teeth. Male ''sonrientes'' are nude or wear loinclothes. Females wear skirts. Both are usually adorned with pectoral bands and/or necklaces, as well as some type of headdress. The headdress, and often the skirts, display a
glyph A glyph () is any kind of purposeful mark. In typography, a glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character". It is a particular graphical representation, in a particular typeface, of an element of written language. A g ...
-like emblem or a stylized animal. Smiling figurines are rare in Mesoamerican art, and the sheer number of ''Sonrientes'' figurines likely attests to their special role in the Remojadas society, although what that role might be has produced much speculation. Some researchers see the characteristic smile as being hallucinogenically produced or perhaps the result of consumption of the alcoholic pulque. One researcher boldly states that they are "undoubtedly related to the cult of the dead". However,
Mary Ellen Miller Mary Ellen Miller (born December 30, 1952) is an American art historian and academician specializing in Mesoamerica and the Maya. Academic career A native of New York State, Miller earned her A.B. degree from Princeton University and her Ph.D. fr ...
and
Karl Taube Karl Andreas Taube (born September 14, 1957)  is an American Mesoamericanist, Mayanist, iconographer and ethnohistorian, known for his publications and research into the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. he ...
find that "it is more likely that many of the smiling figures represent performers".Miller & Taube, p. 156.


Notes


References

* (1986) ''Atlas of Ancient America''; Facts on File, New York. * (2002); ''Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs'' Thames and Hudson, London. * (1957) ''Indian Art of Mexico and Central America'', Alfred A. Knopf, New York. * (1983) ''The Ancient Kingdoms of Mexico'', Penguin Books, London. * (1987),
Tula, and wheeled animal effigies in Mesoamerica
, in ''Antiquity'', vol. 61, no. 232; July 1987. * (1954) "A Smiling Head Complex from Central Veracruz, Mexico" in ''American Antiquity'', Vol. 20, No. 2. (Oct., 1954), pp. 162–169. * Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Smiling" Figure, URL:http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/50006048. Accessed: 2012-02-12. (Archived by WebCite® at https://www.webcitation.org/65OuuK4eg) * * (2000) "Remojadas" in ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures'' ed. Carrasco, Davíd, Oxford University Press. * (2003) ''Hands in Clay: An Introduction to Ceramics'', McGraw-Hill, New York.


External links


Remojadas figurine
at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.
An early Remojadas animal figurine.Comprehensive site on Remojadas and other pre-Columbian Wheeled Artifacts.
{{Coord, 18, 59, N, 96, 19, W, display=title Archaeological sites in Mexico Mesoamerican sites Mesoamerican art Classic Veracruz sites