Pre-Columbian, Mexico and Guatemala, Maya, Late Classic Period, ca. 600 to 800 CE. A large ceremonial chert tool, knapped to have a spear form with two sharp cutting edges. Part of the surface has been polished. A long, tapering tang extends from the widest part of the blade, which has a pyramidal form and a very large mid-rib. The chert is "root beer" colored on much of its surface, with swirls of lighter brown, black, grey, and white. This type of dagger was made to be put into a sacred cache or a burial rather than ritually used, and the lack of re-tooling along the edges suggest that it was never used. Comes with custom stand. Size: 13.25" L x 2" W (33.7 cm x 5.1 cm); height on stand: 6" (15.2 cm)

Maya caches of stone weapons - usually made from aesthetically beautiful stone, like this one - tell us that these items were not just utilitarian, but had an important spiritual role to play as well. For example, at the Blackman Eddy cache in Belize, archaeologists found an array of nine chert flakes, representing a sacred number found in Maya architecture, art, and calendars. These were arrayed on a specially prepared surface inside a mound that seems to have been the focal point for ritual in the area.

Provenance: ex private Poway, California, USA collection

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#124640

Very light wear on surface.