Pre-Columbian, Belize, Maya, Late Classic Period, ca. 550 to 900 CE; Central America, Panama, Veraguas culture, Period V to VI, ca. 700 to 1500 CE.A striking pair of stone tools: a Maya chert hand axe and a Veraguas stone axe head. Larger of the 2, the Maya hand-axe features a bifacial, teardrop-shaped body hand-knapped from a gorgeous smoky gray chert with beige inclusions. The massive blade was purportedly found on the banks of the New River or Rio Nuevo region of Belize and would have been used to carve dugout canoes. Alternatively, the more petite stone axe from Veraguas culture presents a thick body with a narrow butt and a curved blade edge. These blades were likely ceremonial rather than utilitarian and have been found at several archaeological sites throughout southern Mesoamerica and the Caribbean in funerary or ritualistic deposits. Size of larger: 1.2" L x 2.5" W x 7.8" H (3 cm x 6.4 cm x 19.8 cm)

Provenance: private Manhattan, Illinois, USA collection, acquired before 2000; Maya axe: ex-private Midwest, USA collection; purportedly found on the banks of the New River region of Belize / Veraguas axe: ex-Robert Whitehead collection

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#184016

Both have some minor chips, commensurate with age, but are otherwise intact with nice preservation of form. Veraguas axe has smoothing to surfaces near blade from use.