Pre Colmubian Colima Figure

Shamanistic Colima gingerbread style flat. Pointed horn style headdress and holes in ears. Recovered from shaft tomb. The purpose of the gingerbread figures in archic Colima tombs is unknown.

The Western Mexico shaft tombs are characterized by a vertical or nearly vertical shaft, dug 3 to 20 metres down into what is often underlying volcanic tuff. The base of the shaft opens into one or two (occasionally more) horizontal chambers, perhaps 4 by 4 metres (varying considerably), with a low ceiling. The shaft tombs were often associated with an overlying building.

Multiple burials are found in each chamber and evidence indicates that the tombs were used for families or lineages over time.^[9] The labor involved in the creation of the shaft tombs along with the number and quality of the grave goods indicate that the tombs were used exclusively by the society’s elites,^[10] and demonstrate that the shaft tomb cultures were highly stratified at this early date.

The sites of El Opeño and La Campana in Colima feature some shaft tombs, and are often associated with the Capacha culture.