MEZCALA , GUERRERO, Mexique, 350-100 av. J.-C.

Temple, h. 11cm. Sculpture representing a model of a temple in two dimensions. The rounded base forms a rocker. It is surmounted by a protruding platform on which stand four parallel columns, spaced by thin oval openings, and topped by a pediment with a central screen. The top of the ridge is slightly rounded. This type of work is specific to the Guerrero region. They have no equivalent elsewhere in Mesoamerica, although the creation of building models is attested in other regions and cultures, notably in Nayarit. The very refined aspect of these "scale models" makes them unique, however, and the question of whether they really represent the facades of temples or the residence of a dignitary, or whether they symbolically represent the threshold of the afterlife, the home of the ancestors, remains open