Seated Elder Statue of Tumaco Tolita: This 2,000-year-old depiction of a wrinkled old man struck fear because of its hidden “powers”

About 2,000 years ago, Tumaco Tolita potters in present-day Colombia and Ecuador began creating surreal sculptures of revered elders. This figurine of an old man on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City may have been a religious expert, shaman, or other leader of the community.

The 25-inch (63.5 cm) tall artifact depicts an elderly man with deep wrinkles on his face, baggy skin under his eyes, several teeth, and stubble on his jaw. Archaeologist Hugo Ikehara Tsukayama, who wrote about the carving in 2022, said the man’s head appears to be flattened, indicating that the skull was shaped or modified, perhaps during early childhood in cultural practices that signaled ethnic identity or class.

The statue has small holes in its nose, ears, and nipples, suggesting that gold ornaments once adorned the statue. (Ikehara and Tsukayama pointed out that marked nipples are often used to depict women in Tumaco-Tolita art, but the statue’s gender is unknown because it is not wearing a long skirt, which is typical of depictions of women.)

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The statuette was made from a gray clay paste commonly used by the Tumaco Tolita (also spelled Tumaco la Tolita, also spelled Tolita Tumaco), and the intricate design likely took several days to complete. It was probably polished and painted in ancient times, but the color has faded over time.

This old man is depicted sitting in a chair and was a symbol of authority in the ancient Americas. He may also have been a shaman who helped people connect with supernatural beings. Tsukayama Ikehara said the old man’s prominent spine and dry, wrinkled skin were reminiscent of an iguana, and his connection to the animal may have been one key to the shaman’s powers.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this sculpture is one of the oldest sculptures of seated leaders known from this region of Ecuador and Colombia. Male leaders who held religious and secular power in ancient American society were sometimes called caciques.

Florencio Delgado Espinoza, an archaeologist at the University of San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador, explained in an audio interview posted on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website that the cacique statue was likely displayed or carried during an important ceremony, but the statue’s exact function is unclear.

“People love these caciques, but they were really scared because they have powers. So it’s love and fear,” he said.

The Tumaco Tolita people were also well known for their metalworking. They lived in areas rich in natural gold and made impressive figurines from the precious metal. However, by 500 AD the group had disappeared from their coastal homeland and probably dispersed to other parts of South America.

For more amazing archaeological discoveries, check out our Astonishing Artifacts archive.