|
|
Location: Monument 25 was found by a local inhabitant, Felis Pantoja, in the Arroyo Hueapan eroding out of Structure 49 in 1978 and was placed in the site museum during the same year.
Associations: Monuments 15, 16, 26, and 27
Condition: Unfinished, well preserved.
Photographs: Present report, Plate 33.
Drawings: Present report, Figures 31, 32, 33, 34.
Carved Areas: Sculpture in the round.
Material: This monument was found subsequent to Williams' work. However, there is nothing about it to suggest that its material is any different than that of Monument 1.
Dimensions: Height 111 cm, Width 107 cm, Depth 58 cm.
Description: Monument 25 is a colossal grotesque head with a short tenon in the form of a triangular ridge replacing the neck. The front view is dominated by the blocky mass of the snout projecting from the center of the face. Below the snout on either side is a groove which represents the extension of the corners of the mouth onto the smoothly modeled cheeks. On top of the snout is a trapezoidal lump from which the nose would probably have been formed. Above the level of the nose are two elongated depressions with bulging interiors which would probably have become slit eyes. Above the eyes are angular supraorbital plates. The ears consist of large semicircles above with a long narrow mass below. The back of the head has a wide shallow groove like a niche with a flat bottom which is unfinished.
Remarks: Monument 25 provides a rare and fascinating opportunity to study the working methods of Olmec sculptors. Work on Monument 25 was, like Laguna de los Cerros (Llano del Jicara) Monument 8, abandoned after the major features were all blocked-out but before any finishing detail was added. The remaining "rough" retains evidence of two different working techniques. The unfinished face presents a smooth hammer-dressed surface suggesting that Olmec sculptors proceeded by hammering away most of the unwanted material. However, the ears retain deep grooves on their forward edges which separate them from the sides of the head. These grooves were probably sawn with an abrasive medium to provide a purchase for levering off large chunks of waste stone to create the complex forms of the ears. This suggests that Olmec sculptors of the finest period began a project with a well planned program of sawing and levering to produce rough features which were then hammer dressed in preparation for the final detailing. Monument 25 shows features in all three stages of production, the ears were being sawn and levered, the face was being hammer dressed and the mouth was in the first stages of its final detailing.
The face which was beginning to emerge from the front of the stone is not a typical "Olmec Colossal Head" but its grotesque features have a precedent in the earlier, less refined Monte Alto Monument 3. The beginnings of a niche on Monument 25 also have southern precedents at Abaj Takalik, Monument 21, and possibly Izapa, Miscellaneous Monument 2. However, Monument 25 is the only example of a possible attempt to place a niche figure on the back of a Colossal head.
Monument 25 bears no obvious evidence for the reasons work on either the niche or the head itself was stopped at such an advanced stage. Unlike the well known unfinished obelisks of Egypt, the stone of Monument 25 appears quite solid and without faults or cracks of any kind. Explanations for the unfinished state of Monument 25 must be sought outside the technical demands of sculpture.
