Ceremonial Scene Ancient ceramic shaft-tomb figures from the West Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán are around you. Their use as decor, props, investments, or art objects belies their antiquity and importance for understanding the lifeways of peoples long gone. These highly visible artifacts have lost their original context. Context is the environment determining an object’s meaning for the people who made and used it. Recently, archaeologists and art historians have been making progress in understanding the cultures of ancient West Mexico, putting tomb figures back into context.

 

Context Lost | Original Context | Social Context | Wider Context | Context Found
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