https://estudioslatinoamericanos.pl/index.php/estudios <p>Estudios Latinoamericanos, issued by the Polish Association of Latin American Studies, is the oldest Polish scientific journal publishing material related to the wider history and culture of Latin America.</p> Polskie Towarzystwo Studiów Latynoamerykanistycznych en-US Estudios Latinoamericanos 0137-3080 <p>Copyright by PTSL © 2021. With all rights reserved unless otherwise noted. The Journal supports Open Access principles and practices in which research outputs are distributed online, free of cost or other access barriers. Creative Commons open access licenses are applied wherever possible. Creative Commons licensing is mandatory for future submissions.</p> https://estudioslatinoamericanos.pl/index.php/estudios/article/view/471 <p>This article examines the contemporary veneration of four Preclassic potbelly sculptures from the Pacific region of Mesoamerica, located in present-day Guatemala and El Salvador and associated with Kaqchikel, Tz’utujil, Mam, and Pipil communities. Archaeologically, these monuments belong to a shared sculptural tradition dating between approximately 600 BCE and 100 CE and are generally interpreted as representations of ancestors, rulers, or lineage founders. Through archaeological documentation, ethnographic fieldwork, oral histories, and the analysis of contemporary ritual practices, the study investigates how these monuments continue to function as active agents within local religious worlds despite the absence of direct cultural continuity with their original contexts. Drawing on ontographic approaches and the ontological turn in anthropology, the article argues that the sculptures should not be understood primarily as carriers of fixed meanings but as relational nodes through which humans, landscapes, memories, ancestors, offerings, and supernatural forces become connected. The study identifies recurrent patterns of reinterpretation, including their association with water, fertility, protection, healing, and female supernatural beings. Rather than representing a survival of Preclassic religion, these cults emerge as dynamic configurations in which ancient monuments are continually reactivated within new social, historical, and cosmological frameworks. The enduring significance of potbelly sculptures thus lies in their capacity to generate and stabilize relationships across deep time.</p> Milan Kováč Dora Maritza García Patzán Copyright (c) 2026 2026-06-30 2026-06-30 5 50 10.36447/Estudios2025.v45.art1