The Chorotegan Culture.
Passing south and east from the Mayan area we find remains of a rich and in many ways peculiar art, consisting mostly of pottery and stone carvings, to which the name Chorotegan is applied. This name means Driven-out People. It was first used in connection with several tribes of the Chiapanec-Otomi stock dispossessed of a fertile area about Lake Nicaragua by the intrusive Mexican-speaking Nicarao. The Chorotega were not, however, totally dispossessed since they continued to hold the Peninsula of Nicoya in Costa Rica as well as other pieces of territory. In an archæological sense the name Chorotegan fittingly can be extended to eastern parts of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras, since the inhabitants of this stretch of land were also dispossessed some time before the coming of the Spaniards. Or perhaps they voluntarily migrated northward towards the end of the Toltec rule and are to be identified with the Otomi, Tlappaneca, and Mazateca of southern and central Mexico. The Tlappaneca and Otomi are definitely associated with introduction into Mexico of the peculiar cult of Xipe, God of the Flayed. This cult was clearly of southern origin and indeed still survived at Nicaragua at the time of the Spanish Conquest. The Mazateca were found in transit by Cortez, in the southern part of the Peninsula of Yucatan, living in palisaded villages. Similar palisaded villages once flourished in Honduras. The wild South American tribes who replaced the eastern Chorotega exhibit a cultural non-conformity with the archæological remains of the region they now occupy.
Fig. 62. Front View and Profile View Serpent Heads in Chorotegan Art. Although derived from Mayan models they have undergone great changes and have become highly conventionalized.
Close analysis shows that many of the decorative motives in Chorotegan art were developed from those of the Mayas. The serpent and the monkey furnish the majority of the designs that are surely Mayan but each of these is carried so far away from the original that only an expert can see the connections. The arms and legs of the monkeys are lengthened and given an extra number of joints while the heads degenerate into circles. The tongues of the serpents are elongated and bent downward at the end. All the open spaces are treated with scallops or fringes of short lines.
Fig. 63. Jaguar Design with Mayan Affinities associated with Figurines that still retain Archaic Characters. Costa Rica.
Fig. 64. Jaguars from painted Nicoyan Vases.
There is also in Chorotegan art a crocodilian motive that may be peculiar to the Isthmian region although it has Mayan affinities. The jaguar is also important in this ancient art. Among the most interesting vases are those that have a modeled head projecting from one side (jaguar, monkey, or bird) and two of the three legs of the vessel modified into animal legs. On these elaborate vessels there are bands of painted decoration mostly concerned with the crocodile.
[Plate XXXVI.]
(a) Finely Carved Ceremonial Slab found at Mercedes, Costa Rica. The three large figures on the end as well as the smaller ones on the bottom represent crocodiles. Keith Collection.
(b) Stone Figure from Costa Rica. This sculpture in lava rock is one of the finest pieces ever discovered in this region. The lines on the body probably represent tattoo marks.
(c) Ceremonial Slab decorated with Monkeys. Mercedes, Costa Rica. These ceremonial slabs may be developments of metates or corn grinders. Keith Collection.
The extremely elaborate metates (stones upon which maize was ground) from southern Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica probably were made by the producers of the peculiar pottery art already described. These were carved out of solid blocks of lava with stone tools. It is not unlikely that these elaborate metates were used as ceremonial seats since few of them show signs of use. The jaguar is perhaps the most common motive used in the decoration of these metates. The back is broad and slightly dished, the head projects from the center of one end and the tail swings in a curve from the other end to one of the feet.
Fig. 65. Highly Conventionalized Jaguar Motive. The principal features of the head as well as the outline of the leg survive in highly modified form. From the southern end of Lake Nicaragua.
At Mercedes remarkable stone slabs were found during the excavations conducted by Mr. Minor C. Keith. These are now on exhibition in the American Museum of Natural History. The sculptures in relief on these slabs are by all odds the finest from the Isthmian area. Human beings, crocodiles, monkeys and birds are all used to decorate these carefully and laboriously made pieces whose use is entirely unknown. Statues in the full round have also been unearthed in quantity at Mercedes which gives every evidence of having been a large city with a long career.
Fig. 66. Simple Crocodile Figures in Red Lines on Dishes from Mercedes, Costa Rica.
Fig. 67. Panels containing Crocodiles painted in White Lines on Large Tripod Bowls from Mercedes, Costa Rica.
Fig. 68. Simplified Crocodile Heads in the Yellow Line Ware of Mercedes, Costa Rica.
We may be reasonably sure that the stone slabs date from a fairly late epoch because an undoubted “Chacmool” exhibiting the same style of carving has been discovered here. The “Chacmool,” a half reclining figure with the knees drawn up, the body supported in part upon the elbows and a bowl for incense or other offerings in the pit of the stomach, gets its fanciful name from Le Plongeon who discovered the original at Chichen Itza. But the unmistakable sculptures of this type were apparently developed by the highland tribes and the cult was introduced into northern Yucatan during the period of Mexican influence. In addition to Chichen Itza examples have been found at Cempoalan, the historic Totonacan capital near Vera Cruz, at Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico, at Jhuatzio in the Tarascan region, as well as at Chalchuapa far to the southeast in Salvador. All of these occurrences indicate a late Toltecan horizon for its distribution.