Talk:Potbelly sculpture

Magnetic?
The Monte Alto article says some of the potbellies are magnetic, and that there is evidence that the sculpturers were aware of this. 151.197.63.72 (talk) 03:44, 30 March 2010 (UTC)


 * I've read one or two claims to this affect in Guatemalan sources relating to the sculptures on display at La Democracia, if I get around to it I'll put a paragraph in. Regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 12:36, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

Were-Toads? (shamanic man-toad-hybrids)
Even more like with the were-jaguar, the potbelly sculpture with their round body may stand for (more or less inflated) antropomorphic toads (man-toad-hybrids) symbolizing the shamanic practice of toad_licking or other means of consuming toad venoms like bufotenine as a halucinogenic. Toads also had a religious meaning in Olmec culture.


 * http://edj.net/mc2012/waters.htm
 * http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/folklore/folklore_2.html

"The Olmec tribes created images of a toad god of rebirth, eating its own skin. It is reborn by consuming itself, caught in a cycle of death and rebirth, like people, and like the natural world itself."

92.223.41.208 (talk) 01:36, 17 June 2012 (UTC)


 * I can't find this theory anywhere is academic sources, and any link to Olmec culture is speculative. Do you have more solid sources? I've reverted the addition to the article, since neither source mentioned potbelly sculpture or a link between it and toads. Without explicit statements in the refs, this is original research. Simon Burchell (talk) 08:49, 17 June 2012 (UTC)