‘Creepy’ puppets may have starred in rituals at ancient Central American pyramid, 400 B.C.E., [1408×792]

“The Bolinas figurines from Tak’alik Ab’aj and other sites were decorated with skirts and hairstyles incised into the clay; one at Tak’alik Ab’aj wore a detachable jade earring fitted into a hole in its earlobe. Those parallels make Szymański and other archaeologists think the San Isidro puppets may have once worn clothes made of cloth or straw, miniature jewelry, and even wigs.

By changing costumes, the puppets could have represented different characters depending on the performance, he suggests. “They are clay actors,” Szymański says. “When you hold them in your hand, sometimes they even look creepy because of their vivid expressions,” he says, which seem to change depending on the angle at which you look at them. “You shift your gaze just a little bit and it seems like, oof, this thing almost moved.”

Interesting article!