La Blanca is a large site of predominately Middle Formative (900-600 BC) date, located on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, near the border with Mexico (Figure 1). Fieldwork from January through March of 2004, funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and the New World Archaeological Foundation, resulted in the discovery of an important feature, Monument 3. Because of the significance of Monument 3, excavations of this feature continued in July and August of 2004, with additional funding for this continued phase of the project provided by the Pre-Columbian Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
Figure 1. Map of Pacific slope of Mesoamerica showing project location.
Monument 3 (Figure 2) was discovered in La Blanca Mound 9, in a residential zone thought to be largely or completely elite. Excavations of the mound initially revealed domestic, or household, features such as floors, burials, and trash pits. Monument 3, however, is unique in Mesoamerican archaeology. It is an earthen sculpture, found on the western slope of the mound. The sculpture is in the shape a quatrefoil and formed of rammed earth, composed of a sandy loam. The rammed earth was then coated with dark brown (nearly black) clay. The inner rim of the sculpture was painted with hematite red.
Figure 2. La Blanca Monument 3 quatrefoil.
The La Blanca quatrefoil has a channel within the rim that may have carried water to the interior basin. Our initial hypothesis is that the sculpture functioned as a locus of ritual in which water, or notions of fertility, were invoked. Such an idea is consistent with the quatrefoil shape, which in Classic period iconography symbolizes a watery portal to the supernatural realm. Dating to approximately 850 B.C., the La Blanca sculpture appears to be the earliest example of a quatrefoil known in Mesoamerica.
The most well known examples of Middle Formative (700-500 BC) quatrefoils appear at the site of Chalcatzingo in Morelos, Mexico, excavated by David Grove.
Figure 3. Chalcatzingo Monument 1.
There, Monuments 1 (Figure 3) and 9 portray quatrefoils, which have been personified as earth monsters. This personification of the quatrefoils creates an analogy between the open quatrefoil and the mouth of the zoomorphic creature. The imagery of Chalcatzingo Monument 1, as Grove has discussed, appears to be related to agricultural fertility and the arrival of rain. This is evidenced by the rain bearing clouds above the quatrefoil portal from which droplets of rain fall, the mist scrolls that emanate from the mouth of the quatrefoil cave, and the plants that grow from the exterior corners of the quatrefoil. The implication of the imagery is that the rain is arriving because the individual, perhaps a ruler, entered the quatrefoil portal and communed with the supernatural realm, thereby demonstrating his abilities to maintain the continued well-being of his people and the agricultural abundance of his region.
The implications of the Chalcatzingo monuments are especially significant given the similar water-related associations of the La Blanca quatrefoil, which may have served similar ritual, and perhaps politically significant, functions. Yet further excavations will be required in order to test these hypotheses. In fact, the context of La Blanca Monument 3 has yet to be fully determined. Surface remains from Mound 9 clearly indicate a residential function, as do artifacts recovered from the strata above the sculpture. The stratum within which the sculpture was buried, however, contain a very large number of figurines, including many complete examples. It is possible that at the time Monument 3 was in use that it was in a “public” area or plaza associated with Mound 1, the primary temple pyramid at La Blanca, and that Mound 9 and the other residential mounds of the elite precinct were built only after the sculpture was buried. Much more detailed analysis, as well as larger excavations, will be needed in order to collect more data to determine the context of use. In order to facilitate future study of this important monument, conservation of the monument as well as a replica of it were prepared by Carlos Chaclan, conservator at the Museo Popol Vuh in Guatemala City in 2004. Chaclan was assisted in his work by members of the Proyecto Nacional Abaj Takalik as well as by crew members of the La Blanca project.
