Dish with deer,

650–1000

Animals frequently grace the interiors of Los Tuxtlas bowls, with birds, snakes, and monkeys all common, but only three are known to depict deer. Although the figure is highly stylized, with a sausage-like body, its white underbelly and tail suggest it is a white-tailed deer. Volutes in white and red extend from the deer’s nose and ear while a red projection with clustered white dots flows beneath the belly. The lolling tongue and red flow from the belly may indicate a sacrificed animal or one hunted, perhaps to be eaten from this very vessel. The colorful palette and several aspects of the geometric designs adorning the vessel’s walls are similar to designs in contemporaneous Maya plates, likely reflecting increased interaction between the Maya and coastal Veracruz cultures during the so-called Epiclassic period.