Mayan Stone Hacha - PF.4758,Origin: Veracruz, Mexico,Circa: 500 AD to 800 AD,Dimensions: 11.25" (28.6cm) high,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Mayan,Medium: Stone. The Maya were masters of pageantry, ceremony and ritual spectacles. It seems a paradox that beauty and elegance could be combined with blood and violence. Though the inherent reasons behind such a contradiction strikes deeply into the Maya consciousness. And so does the famous ballgame, played by opposing teams in deadly earnest with a lethally hard rubber ball in courts that still stand today as witnesses of a spectacular event. The Maya ballgame was a spectator sport as well as a symbolic act. Gambling was vigorous and the losers were expected to pay in valuable cloth. This very handsome hacha shows a small head of a male wearing a lovely avian headdress. The bird is probably an eagle or parrot, graphically depicted with its graceful beak curving over the man's face. This hacha may have been worn as protection, to score points against, or merely as part of ceremonial accouterments. In any case, it captures the glory and magnificent splendor of the lost Maya world.

Antiquities
Ancient Central America & Mexico