Only humans kill jaguars, a fact that may account for the perception that both share a spiritual equivalence as equals.
In Mesoamerica the jaguar icon first appeared in the art of the Olmec civilization (1250–400 BCE) as monumental stone sculptures and intricate jade carvings, such as those found at sites such as La Venta and San Lorenzo in eastern Mexico. A common image is a half-human, half-feline creature with characteristic downturned snarling mouth, which has been interpreted as a were-jaguar—the supernatural offspring of Olmec rulers and mythical jaguar beings. Some sculptures depict what are regarded as shamans transforming into spirit felines. Broadly contemporary was the cult center of Chavín de Huántar in Peru (850–200 BCE), where startling images of jaguars and animals and humans with jaguar features were carved in stone, cast in gold, and worked in textiles and pottery. A decorative frieze at Chavín shows a procession of carved-stone jaguars and humans with feline fangs and claws, some of which appear associated with the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus and which in turn indicates a shamanic religion.
Once established, the symbolic and spiritual relationship between the jaguar and human elites appears to have become a widespread phenomenon.
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