Aug 3, 2016
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Bird-Headed Figure Whistle, 8th–9th century Mexico, Veracruz Ceramic.

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Bird-Headed Figure Whistle. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Date: 8th–9th century
Geography: Mexico, Mesoamerica, Veracruz
Culture: Veracruz
Medium: Ceramic, pigment
Dimensions: H. 20 1/4 × W. 9 1/2 × D. 5 3/4 in. (51.4 × 24.1 × 14.6 cm)
Classification: Ceramics-Musical Instruments
Credit Line: The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1963
Accession Number: 1978.412.80

The original caption reads:

This freestanding ceramic figure represents a mastery of Veracruz decorative style and a spirited, improvisational use of form. An attitude of power is conveyed by a wide stance, outward extended elbows, and hands placed upon hips. Opposing the solidity of this posture is the floating, asymmetrical form of a fantastic horned and feathered serpent projecting from the head of the masked human figure or bird-headed anthropomorph. This figure wears an elaborate collar and a loincloth with a panel decorated with an abstract design that can be read as a splayed anthropomorphic figure. The broad collar that caps the figure’s shoulders possesses a central element and is incised along its edge to depict a fringed border. Panels of scrollwork and interlaces and bands of repeated motifs characteristic of the art of Veracruz appear in relief on surfaces throughout the composition. The figure is actually a whistle and its musical function and the creative, whimsical compositions that inform the object give it an air of ceremony and celebration.

It looks remarkably similar to some Mesopotamian figures:

Terracotta statuette of woman with bird face. Late Cypriot II, probably of Syrian origin
Terracotta statuette of woman with bird face. OASC The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Date: ca. 1450–1200 B.C. Culture: Cypriot. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 173. This figurine is typical of Cypriot coroplastic art of the Late Cypriot II and III periods. The type, with the pubic triangle accentuated and the breasts clearly shown, is likely of Syrian origin, but Cypriot sculptors created their own variations. Handmade and hollow, it has a shaved surface. Her eyes are pellets surrounded by rings. In each large flat ear are two perforations, each containing an earring; the lower ones have overlapping terminals. The infant stretches out its arms and has depressed circles for its eyes.
Cucuteni Figurines (Romania) d46762650c3c54f9e8cf92e121f1129d
Cucuteni Figurines (Romania). © Marius Amarie via archaeology.org. They, and many other figurines like them—such as the one pictured at right—were made by a people we know today as the Cucuteni culture, which lasted from 4800 to 3000 B.C. in what is now Romania and Ukraine. Some scholars have interpreted these lines as representations of body modification. “They could be tattoos,” says San Francisco State University archaeologist Douglass W. Bailey. “Some say they are clothes, or they could represent something else we don’t understand. We will never know for sure, but in a sense, that’s unimportant. What’s important is that they were using the surface of their bodies to communicate ideas, whether they related to membership in a group or individual identity.”
Cucuteni culture is a Neolithic–Eneolithic archaeological culture which existed from approximately 4800 to 3000 BC from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dniester and Dnieper regions in modern-day Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine.
Cucuteni culture is a Neolithic–Eneolithic archaeological culture which existed from approximately 4800 to 3000 BC from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dniester and Dnieper regions in modern-day Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine.
Cucuteni - Romania - 4500-4400 BC d70bfa68080024a60a9280fc5acb64b6
Cucuteni - Romania - 4500-4400 BC. Via atil.pagesperso-orange.fr.
Cucuteni - Romania cf4b0397c169b700bf014c88366aead7
Cucuteni - Romania - 4500-4400 BC. Via atil.pagesperso-orange.fr.
Early–Middle Bronze Age Figurine from Syria. f6f596681b116538db939f5819511473
Early–Middle Bronze Age Figurine from Syria. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Provenance: Formerly collection of the Comtesse de Fontmarin; acquired by the Museum in 1955, purchased from Mrs. Jacques Lindon, New York. Period: Early–Middle Bronze Age Date: ca. 2200–1750 B.C. Geography: Syria Medium: Ceramic Dimensions: 3.75 x 2.06 in. (9.53 x 5.23 cm) Classification: Ceramics-Sculpture Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1955 Accession Number: 55.188
Maya Owls Birds
Maya. painted stucco. height 12 cm. A trio of owls. May be a reference to the messenger owls of the Popol Vuh. Said to have come from Yucatan. Photographs © Justin Kerr via mayavase.com.
Bird Figurine b32df969ec1458d9caa388d236b7865d
Female figurine with movable legs. Handmade. Bell-shaped body with modeled breasts, tall neck ending in a bird-like face. From Thebes. Early 7th c. BC. © National Archaeological Museum of Greece.
Aerial view of the
Aerial view of the "Owlman" aka "Astronaut", a geoglyph of the Nazca Lines, which are located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. The geoglyphs of this UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 1994) are spread over a 80 km (50 mi) plateau between the towns of Nazca and Palpa. CC-BY-SA, by Diego Delso via Wikimedia Commons.

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