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Nothings Monstered

@nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social

Duck — Tlatilco workshop, ca. 1000 BCE

In shiny polished black clay figurine of a duck

November 21, 2025 at 11:32 AM

Patrick Kapty

@patrickkapty.bsky.social

Bicephalic Female Figure
terracotta, pigments
c. 1200-900 BCE
Tlatilco culture
Valley of Mexico

In pre Columbian religion people with deformities were revered as special to the gods!

#handmade #pottery #sculpture #bicephalic #female #terracotta #tlatilco #precolumbian #art #prehispanic #religion

This hand-modeled terracotta figurine is a pre-Columbian ceramic artifact originating from the Tlatilco culture in the Valley of Mexico.
The figure dates to the Early Formative or Preclassic period, approximately 1200–900 BCE.
The two-headed "pretty lady" design is thought to embody duality, cosmic balance, or liminal, supernatural states, and they were often found in burials.
The piece is constructed from hand-molded clay, decorated with red pigment and incised details to depict hairstyles and facial features.
Bicephalic (two-headed) figures are rare compared to single-headed figurines, indicating they held specific ceremonial or symbolic importance.
The Valley of Mexico (or Basin of Mexico) is a high-altitude natural basin in central Mexico enclosed by mountains and volcanoes. Sitting at an average elevation of about 2,240 meters (7,350 feet), it was historically a region of interconnected lakes. Today, it is nearly entirely occupied by the sprawling metropolitan area of Mexico City.
The valley is a closed basin, meaning it has no natural river outlets to the sea. It features a unique, flat lacustrine plain surrounded by the peaks of the Cordillera Neo-Volcánica, including the famous Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanoes. Because the original five interconnected lakes (including Lake Texcoco) were largely drained beginning in the 17th century to prevent flooding and make room for urban sprawl, the area now sits on mostly clay soils.

July 12, 2026 at 11:49 AM

Jacob

@iacobuscaesar.bsky.social

The Tlatilco culture is the name Mesoamerican archaeologists give to a material assemblage dating between 1250 and 800 BC in the Valley of Mexico, indicating a formative agricultural civilization.

Archaeologists believe they were a society of thick-thighed baddies.

Two feminine effigy figures from the Tlatilco culture. Both figures wear simple crowns and have round heads with slit eyes, round ears, and a pointed nose. They have small breasts and very small arms. The bellies are thin but the legs are exaggeratedly large with enormous thighs, large calves, and small feet. These are displayed at the Snite Museum of the University of Notre Dame.

June 6, 2026 at 6:46 PM

Bart van Zwieten

@bvzw.bsky.social

Over 2,500 years old! Fish from Tlatilco, Valley of Mexico (Estado de Mexico), black clay, 1200 BCE-400 BCE. The eyes were marked with a round tool. After firing, it was decorated by scraping, which left a rough texture on the fins and part of the body, and then rubbed with red pigment.

March 13, 2026 at 12:57 PM

Nicolas Robert

@robertsnickc.bsky.social

Duck Shaped Pot. #Sculpture, Tlatilco, Valley of #Mexico, (1200-800 B.C.) #art

March 29, 2026 at 9:45 AM

Kenn_E

@kaz3dove.bsky.social

Oops, I forgot to post day 5 here, so have 5 & 6, Tlatilco and Beautiful Tlatilco women <( •°³°)7

Guess who's learning to make colors not look so desaturated when switching screens!!!

#art #arte #drawing #dibujo #artist #mesoamerica #tlatilco #mesoameritober2025
#inktober #artchallenge

October 6, 2025 at 10:15 PM

Giovanni Padrone 🇺🇦

@dogshistorian.bsky.social

Tlatilco: Where Dogs Were... Breastfed?
The Tlatilco culture (1200-600 BC) flourished in the heart of ancient Mesoamerica. What is fascinating is not only their origins anchored in primitive agricultural cultures of 5,000 YBP, but the evidence of an incredibly close bond between humans and dogs.

May 18, 2025 at 6:59 AM

Zac Lindsey

@arkeogato.bsky.social

An absolute stunner from the Palacio Canton. Three-eyed woman motif existed for millennia in #Mesoamerican #art but it’s somewhat mysterious and poorly studied. This particular one is #Maya, probably Late Classic (900 CEish), but 3-eyed people at Tlatilco may be from 2000 BCE— 3000 years earlier! 🏺

October 12, 2025 at 7:07 PM

Smarthistory: the Center for Public Art History

@smarthistory.bsky.social

Tlatilco figurines! No hands, no feet, no problem. Two heads are better than one.

Made by the people of Tlatilco 2,000-3,000 years before hte Aztec came to power in what's now known as Mexico. Find the essay and video on Smarthistory smarthistory.org/tlatilco-fig...

Single figure with two faces on a double, but single form of a head. Cute and smiling. Double-faced female figurine, c. 1200–900 B.C.E. (early formative period, Tlatilco), ceramic with traces of pigment, 9.5 cm high (Princeton University Art Museum)

September 24, 2026 at 8:21 PM

Giovanni Padrone 🇺🇦

@dogshistorian.bsky.social

The discover of Tlatilco culture and the emotional bond with their #dogs, what i will write about them in my next #book #MIGRATIONS
#archaeology #art #history #Mexico #pets #puppy
www.amazon.com/ORIGINS-sear...
www.amazon.com/Roma-Canes-M...

The Tlatilco, one of the many cultures that inhabited Mexico, left their indelible mark and then disappeared mysteriously, like other civilizations.
The people who were part of it established their settlements around the 14th century BC. on the shores of Lake Texcoco, where, several centuries later, the Aztecs also established their nerve centers. The Tlatilco coexisted, traded and for a certain period also shared religious beliefs with the Olmecs and other populations. What distinguished them from all the others were above all two things: the cult for their women, probably linked to the cult of fertility (women were represented opulent, reminding us of very distant times in the past in which our ancestors venerated equally opulent 'Venus' ) and the representation they made of their dogs, often hugged (in a couple of cases even breastfed) by Tlatilco women in the countless figurines found in archaeological sites once inhabited by these ancient ancestors of ours.

Taken by an idea that 'tormented' me (in a good-natured sense), I tried to understand why the Tlatilco disappeared so suddenly. Remembering that Mexico is part of the ring of fire (the area of the planet with the greatest volcanic and telluric activity) I wanted to investigate whether around the end of the 9th century BC. some catastrophic event had occurred. The discovery confirmed my intuition: exactly around 820/825 BC. the Popocatépetl volcano had the last of its three Plinian eruptions and this caused the destruction of a vast territory not far from Tlatilco itself (120 km). Of course, this may have been one of the causes, or the trigger that generated a whole series of other events. At the time when the gods defied any scientific law, the Tlatilco also disappeared with their adored women and equally adored dogs.

Today we are here to try to rediscover them. All this in the next book 'MIGRATIONS' (end 2024). In the meantime, to understand what I'm writing about, you can read 'ORIGINS - In search of ancient dog breeds' (dogs from the final Pleistocene to ancient Greece) and 'ROMA CANES MUNDI' (dogs from the Roman period) in paper and electronic format, in English and Italian, with ORIGINS also in Spanish, French and Russian. Enjoy the reading.

April 23, 2024 at 9:58 AM

Alain Truong ♎🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️

@alaintruong.bsky.social

Duck-shaped pot, Tlatilco culture, Middle Preclassic period, c. 1200–800 BC, modeled clay, currently in the collection of Museo Amparo.

June 20, 2025 at 6:24 AM

Sven Schlijper-Karssenberg 🔻

@svenschlijper.bsky.social

Heel oude kunst toegevoegd aan de collectie - Mexico, Tlatilco, a small terracotta figure, 300 BCE - 100 CE

May 26, 2026 at 5:54 PM

La Caverna de Thot

@cavernadethot.bsky.social

El Acróbata.

Es una vasija de cerámica de la cultura Tlatilco (civilización con gran influjo olmeca) que muestra el dominio de las posturas del cuerpo humano. Fue hallada cerca del lago Texcoco (México) y data del periodo preclásico medio mesoamericano (siglos XIII y VII a. C.).

January 21, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Global Approaches to Early Representations of the Human Figure

@gaerhf-bot.bsky.social

In addition to other broadly "Mediterranean World" pieces, I am reminded of the so-called Tlatilco Acrobat from Mesoamerica. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlatilc... . Not exact same position by any means. And no direct connection, of course. Though certainly, it came to mind.

November 15, 2025 at 7:01 PM

Zotz

@zotz.bsky.social

Preclassic, early classic, early postclassic Maya; Huastec, Mixtec, Zapotec (classic and postclassic), Preclassic Michoacan, Early classic West Mexico, Yope, Tlatilco and Cuicuilco, Otomi, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Borgia Codex group, Tamasha and Cotzumalhuapa, Ulua valley, Chorotega and more.

April 1, 2025 at 1:46 AM

tijerin-art.bsky.social

@tijerin-art.bsky.social

"Mujer besando un perrito" – clay figurine from the Tlatilco culture (Middle Pre-Classical period, c. 1250–800 BC) – National Museum of Anthropology (MNA), Mexico.

September 26, 2026 at 8:45 AM

Michael Thomsen

@michaelthomsen33.bsky.social

Cultura Tlatilco
Estilo D1, Grupo D
Región Altiplano Central
Período Preclásico Medio, Fase Manantial
Año 1000-800 a.C.
Período 9 Preclásico Medio, Fase Manantial
Año 1000-800 a.C.
Técnica
Barro modelado, inciso, punzonado, engobe rojo y ocre

museoamparo.com/colecciones/...

January 29, 2025 at 5:01 PM

Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia

@inahmx.bsky.social

#PiezaDelDía 🔶 Tlacuache

Vasija zoomorfa con la representación de un tlacuache. Su cuerpo es curvo convergente, base recta, boca oval y borde redondeado.

Data del periodo Preclásico medio (1200 a.C.-400 a.C.) en el Altiplano Central. Fue encontrado en Tlatilco, Estado de México.