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Archaeologists have discovered a mysterious set of 2,400-year-old puppets with ‘dramatic facial expressions’ atop a pyramid in El Salvador.
The five ceramic figures dated to about 400 BC bear expressions that appear to change depending on the direction from which one views them, and shed more light on a kind of “public ritual” by the region’s Indigenous people, researchers say.
Three of the dolls are about a foot tall (30cm) while two others are about 10cm (0.3ft) and 18cm (0.6ft), researchers say.
All of them were first uncovered atop the site’s tallest pyramid structure in 2022, according to a study, published in the journal Antiquity on Wednesday.
Since there were no human remains found at the site, scientists suspect the dolls were most likely used for public rituals.
While from eye-level the puppets may appear angry, they appear scared from below and grinning from above, researchers say.
Scientists suspect the dolls were likely specifically designed this way to be used for a public theatrical scene to convey stories from “readily decodable events, mythical or real”.
“One of the most striking features of the puppets is their dramatic facial expression, which changes depending on the angle that we look at them from,” said Jan Szymanski, a co-author of the study from the University of Warsaw in Poland.
“They are clay actors…When you hold them in your hand, sometimes they even look creepy because of their vivid expressions,” Dr Szymanski told Science magazine.
However, it remains unclear if they represent actual historical figures.
This also could be a challenge to determine since a massive volcanic eruption around 400 to 500AD devastated the region, releasing 10 times more volcanic gases and ash compared to the Mount Vesuvius disaster that buried Pompeii.
The figurines also bear resemblance to similar dolls unearthed in Guatemala, pointing to a shared tradition between the two ancient cultures.
Archaeologists also found other artefacts at the El Salvador site, including jade pendants with similarities to those uncovered in ancient sites in Panama and Nicaragua.
This contradicts the previous idea of El Salvador being isolated in the ancient times, researchers say, adding that its communities may have freely exchanged goods and ideas over vast distances.
