Flocks appearing during the height of the rainy season suggest the teeming wildlife that once populated the entire Jalisco lake-basin region

The art of ancient West Mexico has traditionally been treated in terms of a group of beautiful but enigmatic objects. Because of insufficient knowledge, however, the various regional styles have generally been classified according to their geographical location. In spite of the unquestionable aesthetic quality inherent in these works, few specialists have attempted to trace the origins of their social, cultural, and symbolic functions, or of the societies that created this art. The lack of …