In 1965, in the community of Las Limas, Veracruz, children Severiano and Rosa Manuel Pascual came upon a unique sculpture of green stone shaped like a human holding a baby in their arms. Archeological and anthropological reports indicate that it is a masterful Olmeca sculpture, made of serpentine stone, possibly from the Guatemalan Highlands. The piece, called “Lord of Las Limas,” is of a young man – maybe a priest? – seated with crossed legs with incisions on his face, shoulders and knees, where the faces and elements of different agricultural and creator deities can be seen. Per Michael Coe’s research, quoted by archeologist Hernando Gómez Rueda:
Four Mexica gods heads in profile incised with double lines on the shoulders and legs. They are formed the same way, with an upper notch, and they are basically differentiated because of internal elements: eyes, nose and lips. The profile in the right shoulder shows an open eye and a vertical double strip motif with three dots; in the left, the serpent eye with a flaming eyebrow; in the right knee, an eye with crossed strips and an upside down “U” on the mouth; in the left knee, a ‘crescent’ eye and a shark’s tooth. Coe saw in these profiles the god of Spring, the Fire Serpent, Quetzalcóatl and the god of Death, respectively. The complex incised design on the face of the Lord of Las Limas has been identified as the Maize god, forming two fantastic faces around the mouth and above the chin of the figure (1996, 58).
Later iconographic research suggests that the figure in the left knee identified as the god of Death has facial features similar to the Shark-Monster, a greatly relevant mythological being in Olmec and coastal cosmovision, linked to the creation of the surface of the world. According to Philip Arnold (2005), there are features seen on the Lord of Las Limas such as a smaller lower jawline, a shark tooth on the upper gum and an eye shaped like a half-moon.
The child he holds is in a supine position, inert or sacrificed, and has the facial features of a jaguar, as well as two rectangular shapes with crossed strips on his chest. His head is adorned with a strip that may have cords, and it also carries a side strip with motifs that are like fabric or paper cordons. Some researchers identify him with the rain god, because of his facial features, while others suggest he could be a young maize god.
Altogether, the Lord of Las Limas allows for multiple interpretations; one of most plausible sees it as a cosmogram. In this sense, the symmetrical figures of shoulders and knees could represent the four corners of the world, similar to the young god or maize god, who also has figures on his thighs that symbolize the lower part of the cosmos. For Gómez Rueda, the rectangle and the diagonal strips on the child’s chest are a common motif in Mesoamerica used to represent the geometry of the cosmos and the solstice points marked by the sun’s journey. To this day, the Sun’s movements determine many agricultural ritual practices, which suggests that the child in the arms of the Lord of Las Limas represents a propitiatory offering to bring rain.