Abstract
Facial Deformity in Anthropomorphic Pottery IT is pointed out by R. N. Salaman that in any considerable collection of Chimu Peruvian pottery there will be found among the anthropomorphic pots examples in which some peculiar deformity of mouth or nose or both occur (J. Roy. Anthrop. Inst., 69, 1; 1939). Several different explanations have been put forward. Distinct groups may be recognized, namely, those which depict abnormal localized obesity, those in which the face is distorted as a result of facial paralysis, and those in which the mutilation is induced and associated with some representation, however conventionalized, of the potato. The potato was regarded as controlled by a spirit which was strengthened by blood libations effected by the act of mutilation. This mutilation consisted in the abscission of the upper lip, and often the lower as well and the removal of the soft parts of the nose. The effect was a startling display of teeth and a cavernous mouth, the explanation being that the Peruvians regarded a potato eye as a mouth, which indeed it resembles in the Peruvian varieties more closely than an eye. A pot of the proto-Chimu period from Chimbote shows the symbolism complete. It depicts a human figure built up from a single potato tuber, in which the end of the nose and the central portion of the upper lip are removed, while on the body are displayed potato eyes from each of which are growing several slender sprouts. In the left hand the figure holds a digging stick. A large number of the pots for funerary purposes exhibit facial deformities which might be illustrative of some disease process, such as, it is suggested, the uta disease due to an infection with the protozoan Leishmania brasiliensis in various stages, after surgical treatment and after death. The reason or reasons underlying the frequent representation by the ancient Peruvians of maimed and mutilated figures remain obscure.
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Research Items. Nature 145, 309–310 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145309a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145309a0