07 · La Venta · Buried deposit

Offering 4

Sixteen figures before six axes as if a meeting were suspended

Sixteen figures and six axes were placed together before burial; we do not know what the scene represented.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Specific historical recreation of Sixteen figures before six axes as if a meeting were suspended, A Complex of La Venta, Tabasco, Mexico, c. 800–600 BCE — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction; not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

**DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction; not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

Sixteen small stone figures were placed in front of a row of six vertical axes and then buried. Their distinct materials and colours turn the assemblage into a miniature assembly: someone faces the group, others form an irregular line.

The deposit was reopened in antiquity and re-covered, a sign that its location remained known. Coronation, council, ancestors or mythic event are modern readings; the power of the work also lies in that none has closed the scene.

Sixteen figurines of stones of different tones were planted in a composition facing six vertical celts. The separation of one figure from the group and the alignment of the others produce a deliberate narrative tension even without knowing the represented episode.

After covering the assemblage, someone reopened the deposit in antiquity and sealed it again. That re-entry shows the location remained in social memory; it also prevents treating the find as an intact instant of a unique ceremony.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: Offering 4 at La Venta brings together sixteen figures and six axes/celts deliberately arranged and buried, c. 800–600 BCE. Interpretation and caution: identifying a concrete ceremony or characters is speculative; the figures do not constitute a literal snapshot. Expanded documentation: Offering 4 of the A Complex contains sixteen figures and six celts placed deliberately, buried and subject to an ancient reopening. Expanded interpretation and caution: Council, coronation, judgement and ancestral gathering are possible readings of the scene, not verified identifications of its characters.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: c. 800–600 BCE
Location: A Complex of La Venta, Tabasco, Mexico
Material: Jadeite, serpentine and other green stones
Context: Ritual deposit, memory and social representation
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Evidence: Archaeological context, materiality and chronology.
Caution: Do not convert stylistic diffusion or contact into political domination.
Documentary coverage: 4 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

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c. 800–600 BCE

Offering 4

Maya worlds

Date of the deposit of Offering 4.

Current record

Greenstone8 dated objects

6 / 8In the centre: Offering 4

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Figurines

Hohle Fels · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Willendorf · ≈29,500 years · Prehistory
Brno II Articulated Figure · ≈28,000 years cal BP · by funerary association · Prehistory
Dolní Věstonice I · ≈29,000–27,000 years · Prehistory
Lespugue · ≈28,000 years · Prehistory
Kostenki I · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Zaraysk Bison · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Worshiper of Tell Asmar · Towards 2900–2600 BCE · Sumer
Offering 4 · c. 800–600 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing
Kushite king · c. 721–664 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Iberians
Shabti of Psamtek · 570–526 BCE · Ancient Egypt
La Venta grave goods · ca. 600–400 BCE · Maya worlds
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
Thracian Gladiator from Cádiz · 67–100 CE · Etruscans and Rome

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Four offerers · Iberian period · individual dating according to catalogue · Iberians
Lararium of Vilauba · Roman period · Etruscans and Rome
Made in Garama · I millennium BCE–I millennium CE · Garamantes

Human imagery

Lion-man · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Hohle Fels · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Willendorf · ≈29,500 years · Prehistory
Brno II Articulated Figure · ≈28,000 years cal BP · by funerary association · Prehistory
Dolní Věstonice I · ≈29,000–27,000 years · Prehistory
Lespugue · ≈28,000 years · Prehistory
Kostenki I · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Shigir Idol · C. 10,000 BCE · approximation; debated dating · Prehistory
Nahal Hemar mask · Eighth millennium BCE · context dating, not direct dating of the stone · Prehistory
El Miradero spatula-idols · ≈4000–3800 cal BCE · Prehistory
Warka Mask · End of the 4th millennium BCE · Sumer
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory
Uruk Vase · ca. 3300–3000 BCE · Sumer
Worshiper of Tell Asmar · Towards 2900–2600 BCE · Sumer
Standard of Ur · ca. 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
Statue of Ebih-Il · Towards 2400 BCE · Sumer
Akkadian sovereign head · Akkadian period · 23rd century BCE · Sumer
Bassetki Statue · Akkadian period · 23rd century BCE · Sumer
Before Pre-Inca Cultures · Kotosh-Mito Tradition, c. 2200–1500 BCE; the enclosure is usually situated around 1800 BCE. · Pre-Inca cultures
Queen of the Night · 19th–18th centuries BCE · Sumer
Bull-leaping · c. 1600–1450 BCE · Greek worlds
Wooden faces · c. 1600–1000 BCE, in several phases · Maya worlds
Head 2 · c. 1200–900 BCE · Maya worlds
Ivory in Nimrud · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Las Limas · c. 1000–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Astarte from El Carambolo · 8th century BCE · Phoenicians
Astarte from El Carambolo · 8th century BCE · Iberians
Lamassu of Khorsabad · Reign of Sargon II · 721–705 BCE · Sumer
The Lanzón · c. 900–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Offering 4 · c. 800–600 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing
Kushite king · c. 721–664 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Iberians
Heads on the wall · c. 800–300 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Shabti of Psamtek · 570–526 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Two voices in an urn · 530–520 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The god on the roof · Towards 510–500 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Glazed brick guards · 522–486 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Twenty-three delegations · 6th–5th centuries BCE, mainly under Darius and Xerxes · Achaemenid Persia
Banquet under leopards · Around 480–470 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The statue was the urn · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians
A battle on a comb · Early 4th century BCE · Scythians and Saka
The Kul-Oba vase · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Solokha gold comb · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Faces of the Steppe · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Scythians and Saka
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Punic head pendant · Mid 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
The Raimondi Stele · c. 400–200 BCE according to MNAAHP · Pre-Inca cultures
Chão de Lamas pectoral · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · concealed in the early 1st century BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
The dismantled cauldron · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Celtic worlds
The walls of San Bartolo · c. 100 BCE · Maya worlds
Gladiators Cup of Chavagnes · 25–75 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Thracian Gladiator from Cádiz · 67–100 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Torreáguila fountain spout · 101–125 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Articulated doll from Tarragona · Late 3rd–4th century CE · Etruscans and Rome
Seven heads · c. 500–700 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Seated figure · 13th century, date attributed by the museum · Mande Worlds
Kongo crucifix · 16th–17th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds
Kuba ndop · ca. 1760 · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Before Persia · Central core c. seventeenth century BCE; Neo-Elamite additions between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Four offerers · Iberian period · individual dating according to catalogue · Iberians
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Lararium of Vilauba · Roman period · Etruscans and Rome
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Quinkan Country · Regional art up to ≈27,000 BP · modern continuity · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory
The Thracian Horseman · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE · Thracians

Worship and offerings

Uruk Vase · ca. 3300–3000 BCE · Sumer
Worshiper of Tell Asmar · Towards 2900–2600 BCE · Sumer
Statue of Ebih-Il · Towards 2400 BCE · Sumer
Before Phoenicia · 20th–18th centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Jue · c. sixteenth century BCE · Ancient China
Rubber before the stadium · c. 1600–1200 BCE for the oldest specimens · Maya worlds
Wooden faces · c. 1600–1000 BCE, in several phases · Maya worlds
Liding · 12th–11th centuries BCE · Ancient China
Astarte from El Carambolo · 8th century BCE · Phoenicians
Astarte from El Carambolo · 8th century BCE · Iberians
The invisible mosaic · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Offering 4 · c. 800–600 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing
Uni was also Astarte · Towards 510 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The god on the roof · Towards 510–500 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Thoth in the form of a baboon · 664–30 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Poroina Mare Rhyton · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Thracians
Eight voices in one hand · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Thirty-nine buried bells · Buried towards the 1st century BCE–1st century CE · Yayoi Japan
Betatun altar · 1st century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians
Kongo crucifix · 16th–17th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A tradition that invents · collected in 1993 or 1995 · Batwa / Twa histories
Four offerers · Iberian period · individual dating according to catalogue · Iberians
Lararium of Vilauba · Roman period · Etruscans and Rome
Livestock and mounds · c. 2050–1500 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Rome learns in terracotta · End of the sixth century BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Soma stones · Rigvedic strata; later ritual tradition · Vedic and later Indian worlds
The altar cord · Approximate composition and transmission c. 800–500 BCE, with revisions · Vedic and later Indian worlds
The Thracian Horseman · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE · Thracians
Translating faith · 16th–18th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

Distinct materials and paint remnants

Analysis of the sixteen figurines of Offering 4 identified thirteen of serpentine, two of jade and one of granite, corresponding to the figure occupying the main position. Fourteen show a loincloth and two appear nude. One of the axes retains fine incisions and red pigment, also detected in body and face lines. The scene did not depend solely on placement: differences of stone, dress and colour could contribute to distinguishing participants. Material identification allows refining that reading, but does not turn a prominent position into a political office whose name we know.

Museum · Martha Carmona Macías, MNA · Offering 4 at La VentaAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Location and territory

LOCATED SITE

La Venta · MexicoMarker of the archaeological complex.

Where it is held

National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico)

Component of the group · Documented collection

Institutional record of the assemblage, catalogue 13.0-00415; partial relation used because three figurines were transferred to Washington for study.

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

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Offering 4

History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Objects connected through time

Offering 4

Fu Hao’s burial goods

The Cascajal Block

Las Limas

The invisible mosaic

Motagua jade

Offering 4

La Venta grave goods

Pakal’s grave goods

A closer look

Distinct materials and paint remnants

Location and territory

Where it is held

National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico)

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?