Talk:Potbelly sculpture

Potbelly sculpture has been listed as one of the History good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
August 16, 2010	Good article nominee	Listed

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on October 8, 2009.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that potbelly sculpture is a crude non-Maya sculptural style distributed along the Pacific slope of southern Mesoamerica and dating to the Preclassic Period?

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Central America

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Mesoamerica (inactive)

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Sculpture

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Visual arts

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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)[reply]

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)[reply]

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Potbelly sculpture/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

I'll be properly reviewing the article later this evening, but first impressions are good. Nev1 (talk) 18:25, 16 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have much to say about the article because it's in very good shape.

Description

This section is very good, listing the features common to these sculptures. The text is concise and to the point, making the subject easily understandable. A style repeated throughout the article.

Dating

When mentioning that it was thought the sculptures might be pre-Olmec, it might be worth providing a date at the same time. Other than this trivial issue, the section does a good job explaining the changing understanding of the dating and the relevant issues.

I've put in the dating span for the Olmec culture, and referenced. Simon Burchell (talk) 20:17, 16 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Interpretation

This section does a good job of explaining the competing theories.

Distribution

No problems here.

Do the sources have any suggestions on why some of the sculptures may have been left headless? It's mentioned in the description section that some may have been left deliberately headless, and this may be worth adding a sentence or two on if possible. Once this is answered one way or another, the article easily passes the GA criteria. I only made a handful of edits, but you'll want to check I didn't inadvertently change the meaning of anything. Nev1 (talk) 19:36, 16 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Your changes are fine - as for why it is thought some sculptures are deliberately headless, I've gone back to my sources and there is no detail on this. The source basically says "some of the sculptures are headless and some of these might have been deliberately headless" so not much help! Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 20:26, 16 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough, congratulations on a good article. Nev1 (talk) 20:40, 16 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks for the review, all the best, Simon Burchell (talk) 20:53, 16 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

GA review (see here for criteria)

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose): b (MoS):
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias:
It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.:
It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall:
Pass/Fail:

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.

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)[reply]

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)[reply]