https://emuseum.cornell.edu/internal/media/dispatcher/79067/fullZoomorphic effigy whistle3rd century BCE–5th century CE2 15/16 × 2 3/8 × 1 3/4 inches (7.5 × 6 × 4.4 cm)EarthenwareGift of Thomas Carroll, PhD 19512006.070.0500La Tolita ceramic whistle in the shape of a seated snarling animal with large rounded helmet-shaped headdress may represent a feline or monster deity. Elongated head shape is typical of human figurines from this period and may indicate cranial deformation. Mouth is open; teeth are bared. Whole and unbroken.
Similar to 2006.070.054 in shape of the face and elongated head, but .054 has a human body while this whistle has an animal body.
_______
Zoomorphic (animal) motifs were commonly employed on a wide range of Pre-Columbian artifacts, including pottery, textiles, and metalwork. Pre-Colombian works of art depict both wild and domesticated animals, creatures commonly encountered in everyday life, and creatures found rarely--or not at all--in the natural world. Aspects of many different animals can be found in Pre-Colombian art, often mixed with human attributes in what may appear to us to be startling fantasy combinations. Many artworks feature animals such as the great cats (jaguars or pumas), said to be full of spiritual power, which were key elements of Pre-Colombian religious traditions.
In Central America and in northern South America, the animal triad of harpy eagle, jaguar, and cayman (similar to an alligator or crocodile) was cosmologically important. Birds are creatures of the air, while caymans are creatures of the water; jaguars can move between the trees, water, and ground and thus serve to mediate the supernatural forces found on land, air and water.
Feline (or cat) imagery was commonly employed on a wide range of Pre-Columbian artifacts, including pottery, textiles, metalwork, and even in site planning (the archaeological ruins on the slopes of Mount Sangay, Ecuador, consist of tolas mounds arranged in the shape of a jaguar, and the Inca capital city of Cuzco, Peru, was laid out in the form of a puma). Recognizable by a typically snarling face with prominent fangs, cat-like elements are often blended with human characteristics as well as features from other animals such as snakes and birds to form a variety of fantasy creatures, including "monsters" and "dragons".
Jaguars are the largest and strongest spotted cats in the Americas, and have had a profound influence on prehistoric art. Because jaguars are equally at home in trees and on land, they are seen as mediators between ground-dwelling humans and the divine; deities communicate to the world of mortal men through the jaguar. Both studies of modern people from lowland South America and writings from shortly after the Spanish Conquest emphasize the close association of shamans with jaguar spirits and the recurrent themes of jaguars as procreators, sexual unions with jaguars, jaguar-men and jaguar clans. Jaguars are usually depicted with curly tails in Pre-Columbian art.
For more information, please see The Cult of the Feline (1972), edited by Elizabeth P. Benson, Dumbarton Oaks: Washington, DC.
Ceramics20490040238Unidentified artistLa Tolita (Ecuador)This La Tolita ceramic whistle in the shape of a seated snarling animal — with a large rounded helmet-shaped headdress — may represent a feline or monster deity. The elongated head shape is typical of human figurines from this period and may indicate cranial deformation.
2006.070.050_d0561_020