Totonac Hacha Wall Relief Tablets

[LandronArtifact]

Recently sculpted this guy. It's an artifact called an "hacha" (Spanish for "axe" due to their axe blade-like shape). These are common artifacts from the Totonac civilization in the regions of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo, Mexico. This speficic design depicts a person wearing a chin-strapped helmet fashioned to look like the head of a macaw parrot. The original artifact is roughly from 900-1100 AD. Some of these I find to be very cool designs so I've already collected a few photos of some that I'd like to replicate in the future.

(Work-in-progress)

(Completed sculpt on the left, ready for molding. Photo of original museum artifact on the right I used for reference.)

(Final painted pieces in three different faux finishes.)

 

[LandronArtifact]

Here's a previous hacha I sculpted. This one is of what appears to be a humanoid jaguar.

(Photo of original museum artifact on the left. My work-in-progress sculpt on the right.)

(Final painted piece. This one I did in a color finish inspired by the idol temple from Raiders.)