Vessel in the form of a tlacuache (opossum) eating a squash,

ca. 1200–900 BCE

This well-preserved, small ceramic vessel presents a charming rendition of an opossum (Didelphis marsupialis) gnawing his way through the tough outer shell of a gourd. Hi sits upright on his haunches, with the gourd propped up between his knees and held by his front paws. Throughout Mesoamerica, the opossum carried various mythological associations. Among the Classic-period Maya, the opossum served as a metaphor for old age, and may have been associated specifically with the old god called 'Pawahtuun' (pow-wa-TOON), who was the patron of the old, dying year. Among other Mesoamerican cultures, the opossum was associated with pulque (POOL-kay), an alcoholic beverage may from the sap of the Maguey plant. Unfortunately, it is not known precisely what the Olmec producers of this vessel thought of opossums. This opossum sports a ring of roughly textured hair at the back of his head, as if to suggest that he is balding. It is thought that among the Olmec, such presentations of the hair indicate that a shaman is undergoing transformation into his animal alter-ego, his human skin peeling back from a split in the head to reveal the spirit companion within. The vessel may have held an intoxicating substance that would have facilitated such a ritual transformation, presumably into an opossum. A small hole was drilled into the vessel after its original production, probably to symbolically 'deactivate' the function of the vessel. Such deactivation may have occurred at the death of the shaman-owner as a means of keeping others from meddling with his alter-ego.