Pre-Columbian, Belize, Preclassic Maya Period, ca. 250 BCE to 250 CE. A trio of curiously shaped chert flints fittingly known as "eccentric flints" in highly abstracted zoomorphic forms. The largest is a creamy purple and pink stone with curved ends, which could be bird shaped. The other is slightly curved in profile and looks like two connecting arrow heads and has a light brown coloration. The smallest is white with pink inclusions and is the most animal like; a bat with wings outstretched. The flints were shaped by flaking the chert stone surface with a harder stone and took great skill to make. Flints were carved not as weapons, but as interesting designs, that had sacrificial and ceremonial use for the Maya, and are often found as offerings in caches inside of stone monuments and other architectural features. Size of largest: 3.75" L x 3" W (9.5 cm x 7.6 cm) smallest flint: 2.625" L x 1.37" W (6.7 cm x 3.5 cm)

Provenance: ex- old private New England, USA collection, acquired in the 1970s

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#159390

Abrasions to the surface of the brown one. Minor nicks and chips to peripheries of each. Mineral deposits and lovely colorations!