Ecuadorian figurines: a taste from the Archives
Max Dashú
Stone female figurine.Valdivia, late 3rd millennium bce.
The ancient artists gave much attention to the hair, often placed hands to the belly or breasts and emphasized the vulvic triangle. Notice that the entire lower half of the body is shaped like a vulva --a common theme in South American figurines.
Some three thousand years after the Valdivia figurines, Ecuadorian artists had achieved magnificent skill in ceramic sculpture. The Jamacoaque culture, circa 200-800 CE, created many images of praying women and shamans with serpents in ecstatic states.
