This small object transforms an image of a person carrying a load into an actual functional object capable of carrying things as well. The subject matter of this image follows the Nayarit tradition of portraying scenes from everyday life. These simple images, however, often had an underlying funerary symbolism, appropriate for their function as effigy figures in shaft tomb graves. This figure has been depicted with a flat, rounded, almost heart-shaped face, and thin eye slits, traits which characterize the Chinesco style which originated in south western Nayarit. Towards the end of the pre-classic period in Ancient Mesoamerica, the regions of Colima, Nayarit, and Jalisco in Western Mexico became home to what has now been termed the "Shaft-Tomb" culture. These people built tombs consisting of shafts 10-60 feet deep with several ovoid tombs branching either directly off of the main shaft at various levels, or connected to it by lateral tunnels. The burial offerings, which filled these tombs, have become our greatest link to this lost culture. The hollow pottery figures which were commonly placed in the tomb chambers show stylistic variations between regions, giving us glimpses into the cultural differences between these groups as well as the beliefs, which they held in common.