Colima Bound Seated Figure

This ceramic sculpture from Colima, West Mexico, dates to the Protoclassic period, ca. 100 BC – 250 AD.

Ceramic figurines of bound prisoners reflect the military traditions and ritual warfare practiced among ancient clans. Such “institutionalized conflict” served as an accepted method for acquiring captives used in status displays and sacrificial ceremonies.

Scholar Peter Furst has proposed that these restrained figures may instead depict shamans undergoing initiation rites, during which they must free themselves to demonstrate their supernatural abilities. The finely modeled back of this figure is particularly striking, bearing a form that resembles the carapace of a turtle.