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Location: This piece was brought from Tlapacoya to Tres Zapotes to be photographed (Stirling 1943:26-27). Present location unknown.
Associations: None.
Condition: Well preserved.
Photographs: Present report, Plate 58; Stirling 1943: Plate 15b.
Drawings: None.
References: Stirling (1943)
Carved Areas: All surfaces.
Material: This monument was not available for testing by Williams and I have not been able to examine it myself.
Dimensions: Height 75 cm, Width 29 cm, Depth 35 cm.
Description: Tlapacoya Monument 1 is an upright zoomorphic tenoned sculpture with its arms folded at its sides and its hands on its belly. The arms are rendered in flat relief and the hands are simple lumps with little indication of digits. The head is flat with a horizontal axis. The upper portion of the muzzle is eroded, though traces of what appears to be rodential incisors are visible at the edge of the erosion. The bridge of the nose is slightly raised and remnants of the nostrils remain in the eroded portion of the muzzle. The eyes are outlined by circular incisions and protrude from the shallow raised forehead. Small round ears appear at the upper rear of the cranium.
Remarks: Stirling identifies Tlapacoya Monument 1 as a "Jaguar" (Stirling 1943:26-27). However, the snout is badly broken and the remaining portions of the head most closely resemble Totogal Monuments 2-4, suggesting that Tlapacoya Monument 1 may also have depicted a rodent.
