This man looks as if he is contemplating the world around him as he sits crouched with his arms crossed. He is splendidly ornamented, with white body paint, jewelry, and painted hair. His youthful face is delicate, with almond-shaped eyes open to the world around him, and his mouth is open as if he is directly speaking to us. The tremendous amount of jewelry he is adorned with denotes how important he must have been to this culture. He was most probably a shaman, a magic man, an intermediary between our world and the world of the spirits. The artist may have captured this important personage at a time of prayer, where he is speaking to a higher world. The artist communicates every minute detail of the human anatomy, as seen through the careful depiction of vertebrae. This breathtaking piece powerfully represents this culture's ideals through symbolism and attention to form.