Olmec Figurine - Dwarf or Fetal-style Figurines

Dwarf or Fetal-style Figurines

Another pervasive Olmec figurine type features crouching figurines with thin bodies and over-large oval heads with small noses and receding chins. Some researchers such as Miguel Covarrubias generally characterise these figurines as "dwarfs". many others, also including Covarrubias, see evidence of "what looks like pre-natal posture". In a 1999 article, Carolyn Tate and Gordon Bendersky analysed head-to-body ratios and concluded that these figurines are naturalistic sculptures of fetuses, and discuss the possibility of infanticide and infant sacrifice.