This Statue - Guess the Origin!

Hello all! Hope everyone is well. I have a bit of a game to play with you guys.

Please, can you tell me, what country did this statue originate in?

I would like you all to have a guess of where it could have come from. If you know the answer for certain, please do not spoil it for others. Just please look at the features and try to guess where it came from.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/9eb95ef1bb8d7406.jpg[/atsimg]


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/3cae20a39c0f353a.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/ab22f9307590ce55.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/f013bab38e64dc9a.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/8d594fccde08909b.jpg[/atsimg]



Once again, if you know for sure where it's from please do not tell us, this is for people to try to guess where it is from. The answer is pretty amazing!


The answer is at the bottom of this page, page 2 has a few other statues from the same people.


[edit on 31-3-2010 by BeastMaster2012]

[edit on 31-3-2010 by BeastMaster2012]

[edit on 31-3-2010 by BeastMaster2012]

Iran/Iraq?

Or maybe Peru?

It looks a bit Pre Columbian but it could also be Eurasian. This is a mother holding a baby and the baby swaddling looks more Eurasian to me. It is a difficult one. Can you tell me what it is made of? Basalt or something similar?

Here are some more detailed photos. I will add these to the top too.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/3cae20a39c0f353a.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/ab22f9307590ce55.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/f013bab38e64dc9a.jpg[/atsimg]

I will find out the material shortly.

reply to post by BeastMaster2012


I would say it's South American.

Also, I get the feeling that it is religious...dangerously close to the statue of Mary holding the body of Jesus. She looks anguished, he looks tired and "not there"

I will say the US, West Coast-say... 1830-1870 (ish). When Chinese immigration was going on out west.

S&F. I like this. Maybe they could have a thread dedicated to this type of post. Test one... Good job.

Blind guess-america. Looks alaskan to me.

Also would not be shocked to find out it was from New Zealand.

Olmec?

Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my second line....

It is made out of Jade aka Greenstone.

Here is one more compilation photo i put together showing all sides.. hope this doesn't give it away!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/8d594fccde08909b.jpg[/atsimg]

Well the first thing that pops into my head is China... however, that feels like to obvious an answer... so... I don’t know why... but I’m gonna guess Russia!!

S+F... interesting thread


[edit on 31-3-2010 by Muckster]

Sheer guess and because I am intriqued by them, I will say the Sami people of Finland.

I'm gonna take a stab and say... Tibet?

Not sure, something about the wrappings the child is in... I may be waaay off though.

I was going to guess at Central America- Alaskan/ Canadian... Then I saw what looks like Egyptian Hieroglyphics above the eyes.... For all I know, the jade was picked up in China, where an Egyptian living in Alaska who was raised by Mayans made the darned thing!

*stays confused and has lunch instead*

My first guess would be Asia somewhere due to the eyes. But your newer photos reveal it's actually a mask that is being worn (visible in the profile angle pictures).

So I would guess somewhere in central/south America. No idea about the specific country.

[edit on 3/31/2010 by AshleyD]

Okay, I give up, you may tell us now where it is from.

I would hazard a guess that it was made somewhere in the Orient, but managed to find its way to the Occident, and it was discovered in the West....

I bet it has Made in China stamped on it somewhere...

that "baby" looks swaddled, but the all sides pic shows the "baby" has legs and feet, so I'm not even sure it's a baby anymore.

The designs looks vaguely like Incan writing, but I can't get a good enough look to see if it is, or if it is just squiggles.

My guess...either Northern or Southern Hemispherian!

I will say Pre-Columbian for sure. I say Peru. Although that wouldn't be surprising. Tough one!

It looks like ancient indian, or somewhere in asia.

What i also thought, is that it could of came from Easter Island. but that is my wild card guess.

Ok, here is the answer!

OLMEC! Signals was the first to guess it.

en.wikipedia.org...



This is called the Las Limas Monument. The largest known greenstone sculpture. How about that!

Built around 1000bc - 400bc, and who knows it could be older?

Found in Veracruz, Mexico!

It is a greenstone figure of a youth holding a limp were-jaguar baby. Found in the Mexican state of Veracruz in the Olmec heartland, the statue is famous for its incised representations of Olmec supernaturals and is considered by some a "Rosetta stone" of Olmec religion. The largest known greenstone sculpture, it is also known as the Las Limas figure and the Señor de las Limas.

These Olmecs are fascinating and it is a shame we don't know that much about them. The Mayans are amazing on there own and it is crazy to think about what the Olmecs could have passed on to them.

I recently bought a photo heavy book on the Olmecs and i was shocked at how their sculptures looked like a total mix of different races, including African, Egyptian, Asian and more.

This statue has an interesting story..

The facial features are unmistakable: almond-shape eyes, fleshy cheeks and sensuous, full lips, often drawn downward as if in a pettish scowl. With their puffy and swollen eyes, these mostly male figures often look as if they had just been roused from a deep, dream-haunted sleep.

The meaning of the figures is a mystery, but their features recur everywhere in Olmec art, not only on figurines, but on the adult faces of the two monumental stone heads included in the show, and on the evocative seated figure in the justly famed sculpture known as ''The Lord of Las Limas,'' named after the site of its discovery.

At a glance, the image might be taken for a beseeching woman carrying a sleeping or dead child in her lap, and it was worshiped as a Madonna by the Christian Indians who found it. In fact, the larger figure is male, possibly a priest in the act of ritually offering up an infantile being with a human body and a jaguar's head.

This composite creature, referred to as a ''were-jaguar,'' bridged earthly and divine realms and carried immense supernatural power. Shamans sought to assume its form both through the ritual use of hallucinogenic drugs and through the practice of physically strenuous yogalike forms of meditation.

www.nytimes.com...

Pretty cool!



[edit on 31-3-2010 by BeastMaster2012]

reply to post by BeastMaster2012


Oh I like this ... ok, I've had a good look and I'm torn between two ... so if you don't mind I'll put both (probably both wrong anyways)

#1 Pheonician

#2 Inuit

When will you be revealing the answer ???

And do we win anything ???

Woody

>>> Dammit ... you posted the answer while I was typing my responce ... now I look stupid coz I got it wrong anyways *stamps foot and storms off in a sulk

[edit on 31-3-2010 by woodwytch]

[edit on 31-3-2010 by woodwytch]