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Chac-Mool Tolteca

The Chac Mool is reclining figures on the back with the head turned to one side, legs bent and a container on the belly that could serve to place ritual offerings, perhaps a vessel with the blood of the hearts of the slaughtered. He is also associated with a type of emissary or messenger between men and gods.

The name comes from the explorer Augustus Le Plongeon, who in 1875 observed this type of sculptures for the first time in Yucatan, for which he proposed a name in Yucatec Maya. The name means "great red jaguar" and it has become usual and is maintained by it even though it does not have much relation.

These sculptures were developed by the Toltec culture and last until the time of the conquest. Mexicas and Mayas used them with variations but always with the same theme: they were divine messengers between men and gods.

Anthropology Museum