If this theory is true we must admit that below the Archaic Horizon we should find traces of a horizon of non-agricultural peoples, living a nomadic life without pottery. Unfortunately, such peoples make fewer objects and scatter them more widely than do sedentary agriculturists.
No one on the basis of present knowledge can offer more than an opinion concerning the date of the invention of agriculture in the New World. The thick deposits left by the sedentary peoples argue great age and the wide area of homogeneous products argues slow change. In the most favored regions archaic art may have been succeeded by higher forms shortly before the time of Christ, and perhaps 5000 years is not too long a time to allow for the diversities of the domesticated plants of America.
[Illustration: Large Archaic Figures found in Graves and offering Evidence of Ancient Customs and Arts and also showing a Quality of Caricature or possibly Portraiture. These are probably late products since they come from Tepic and Jalisco, where archaic art maintained itself long after its disappearance from central Mexico.]
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Archaic Figurines from Central Mexico. The first three specimens are from under the lava at Copilco.]
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Archaic Figurines—Zapotlan, Jalisco; Tampico, Vera Cruz; and Cuesta Blanca, Salvador.]
Archaic art is characterized by figures of men and women modeled in clay and sometimes painted. The forms are peculiar and the technique well standardized. Most are modeled in a flat gingerbread fashion into a gross shape. Upon this gross shape special features are indicated by stuck-on ribbons and buttons of clay and by gougings and incisings with some pointed instrument. Modeling was done entirely by hand, moulds being as yet unknown. The figurines are usually from two to five inches in height and often represent nude women in sitting or standing positions with the hands upon the knees, hips, or breasts. The heads are characteristically of slight depth compared with their height, the limbs taper rapidly from a rather plump torso and hands and feet are mere knobs with incised details. When the figures are intended to stand erect, as is often the case, the feet show signs of having been pinched between the thumb and finger of the potter so that they have a forward and backward cusp and a broad base of support. Groovings are seen in connection with the hair, eyes, mouth, fingers, toes, and details of dress and ornament. Paint is often added to this surface to indicate tattooing, textile patterns, etc.