Emerging perspectives : a new cross-contextual analysis of the niche monument corpus

Preclassic niche monuments, found from Guatemala to Chiapas to Veracruz, portray anthropomorphic figures emerging from a high-relief cavity. Despite being frequently lumped into other, more well-known categories (niche altars/thrones, boulder monuments, etc.), certain of these monuments along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and Guatemala exhibit characteristics that merit their own sculptural category. Presently there is no study of the monuments as such. For this project, I aim to fill this gap in the scholarship. By focusing on niche monuments found along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and Guatemala, I have assembled a corpus of seven monuments and situated them within a broader matrix of communication and exchange. In this paper, I will present my analysis of the corpus of niche monuments, including their context (when available), iconography, and their geographic and chronological qualities. By studying these monuments as a corpus, I have found significant similarities between them that include a variant of the Olmec-style “flamed eyebrow”, watery contexts, and central niche figures likely linked to notions of transformation or were-jaguar imagery. Recognition of these traits will provide greater insight into the sculptural program of the Middle to Late Preclassic transition, as well as the scope of this artistic style within Mesoamerica prior to and following this period