ABSTRACT
Stone sculpture was not as common, as varied, or as elaborate in SouthAmerica and environs as it was in Mesoamerica. In the south, we find nocounterparts to the massive stone portrait heads of the Olmec; the courtly elegance of Maya reliefs and stelae; the wonderful naturalism of Aztec vegetative or zoomorphic carvings or their monumental sculptures of awesome and terrible divinities such as Coatlicue rendered fully in the round. However, there are several well-known styles from Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia which have been the subject of more than their fair share of forgeries. Despite the fact that, in comparison with Mesoamerican sculptures, these southern styles seem relatively crude and stiff-seldom managing to emerge from the visual confines of the blocks from which they were carved-they are remarkably popular with forgers. In large part this is because their more elementary style appeals to collectors’ constructs of the “primitive” and makes them particularly attractive as exemplars of all the latest pseudo-theories about shamanism, ancestor worship, spirit conjuring, human sacrifice, and (gasp!) hallucinogenic drug use. In other words, they possess the sort of raw qualities that make collectors’ and curators’ hearts start racing. Indeed, we can see these works as stage dressing in a future Apocalypto II in which a Moche version of “Jaguar Paw” will be saved from his bloodthirsty neighbors by the arrival of the Christian Conquistadors seven centuries too early-their role as the “good guy” rescuers once again demonstrating that these New World savages deserved to be conquered.
