Ancient Burial Urns

I went to Ometepe for class since my teacher didn't have any other students-yay! I love interactive learning. What a worthwhile venture. At one museum that we visited there were many funeral urns used by the Indians in Ometepe (Mangues, Chorotegas, Nicaraguas, Chibchas, Tiwanaco and others; from the Nahua tribe that migrated from Mexico, across Central America) The museum that we visited is named, Museo el Ciebo. El ciebo is a very large tree with branches that reach up to heaven and roots that reach to the depths of the earth, so the belief is that this tree had mystical significance. It is a beautiful tree. The tour guide at Mueseo el Ciebo said that the urns were shaped like a shoe. While I was looking at the "shoe" I noticed that the artwork on the outside looked like sperm (pic on top left, top left urn). The guide went on to explain that it looked like a big shoe, but that it was shaped like a uterus because the Indians believed that when they died they would return to the womb, where life began. (guess that explains the sperm) You can see one of the urns with a necklace around it, and a gold pin in the middle (symbolizing the witchdoctor). The two photos of the actual burial site that was discovered on the museum property, obviously contained the urn of someone of higher class, as it contained jade-which they believe fame from Guatemala, and the necklace, which only people of higher class were permitted to wear. Most of the artwork that I saw was dated around 300-500 b.c. I found the urns where the bones were stored, much more interesting than a box(: