The Guaraní indians carve small figures in soft wood, which are then decorated with the aid of a burning tool. The two jaguars were bought by José Roca in Porto Alegre; the other animal, a saber-toothed tapir, was done by Guaraní artisans from a drawing provided by Brazilian artist Carlos Vergara has been working since the seventies in São Miguel das Missões, ancestral Guaraní land. The drawing was an archaeological reconstruction of an animal who lived in those territories before the first human dwellers. The archaeologists christened it Tiarajudens as an homage to the indian Tiarajú, the last great Guaraní warrior in the fight against the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors.
