Zoomorphic pot

This zoomorphic redware Zapotec vessel depicts a quadrupedal animal with cloven hoofs and a short tail. The hollow vessel has a short neck in the center of the animal’s back. The animal’s head is tilted to one side as it gazes back over its right shoulder. The identification of this animal is difficult; similar shapes from the Andes are thought to depict camelids (llamas or alpacas), but these animals were unknown in Mesoamerica. It may represent the Mesoamerican brocket deer (Mazama americana), an important constituent of Mesoamerican cosmology and calendrical systems. In the Maya calendar, a month was named “deer” (ceh in Maya). The Nahua word for deer, mazatl, was used to denote one day in each month, much as we use numerals in our own calendar system.