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| This eccentric flint of two beings, the smaller one looks like it's getting a piggyback ride. It comes from Guatemala, and was made in the 600s AD to 700s AD. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
The Maya (and other Mesoamericans) civilization had a practice of working stones including chalcedony, chert/flint, and obsidian into items that don't appear to have been tools. (They liked flint that was particularly dark the best.) Possibly or actually connected with lightning -- the Maya either may have thought or really did think flint was made from lightning strikes -- these carved stones were sacred items. The stones -- called eccentric flints, eccentrics, and eccentric lithics -- seem to have been the most popular in both the central and southern lowlands, during the Classic Period
Types of Shapes
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| Also from the Met. This eccentric flint comes from Mexico, sometime before contact with the Spanish. |
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| This eccentric flint is in the collection of LACMA. It comes from Mexico or perhaps Guatemala and was made somewhere around 600 AD to 800 AD. |
There are some big eccentric flints that have a long piece that is called a stem -- which you might see called a tang -- coming straight down from the bottom of the part shaped to look like a god or ruler. (Though other sources this author has found don't say this, the SFU Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology says that this kind of eccentric flint is leaf-shaped.)
Purposes
The people of the Maya civilization put these carved stones in caches that archaeologists have found in elite graves and under stelae, among other locations.
But eccentric flints may not have just been for putting in special places. One theory says there were also certain eccentric flints that the ancient Maya used for bloodletting rituals.
There may have been a third use, at least for the big eccentric flints.The stems of big eccentric flints may have been for putting into a staff so that the part that looked like a god or ruler was on top of the staff. It's a possibility that the ancient Maya used this kind of scepter. A variation on this is that it may have been put into a staff and been a war-related item, like a battle standard -- or perhaps a weapon.
But eccentric flints may not have just been for putting in special places. One theory says there were also certain eccentric flints that the ancient Maya used for bloodletting rituals.
There may have been a third use, at least for the big eccentric flints.The stems of big eccentric flints may have been for putting into a staff so that the part that looked like a god or ruler was on top of the staff. It's a possibility that the ancient Maya used this kind of scepter. A variation on this is that it may have been put into a staff and been a war-related item, like a battle standard -- or perhaps a weapon.
Making Eccentric Flints
Making an eccentric flint was a very challenging project. No one is quite sure how the ancient Maya made them with the tools and skills that they are known to have had. (They used two methods: pressure flaking and percussion flaking.) However they did it, the ancient Maya who knew how to make eccentric flints had some very special knowledge about stone working.
Based off of flakes of chert that were painted at Piedras Negras, there's an idea out there that wonders if eccentric flints were painted as well.
Based off of flakes of chert that were painted at Piedras Negras, there's an idea out there that wonders if eccentric flints were painted as well.
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| This eccentric flint was made between 600 AD and 900 AD, in Belize. From the Yale University Art Gallery. |
References:
"Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya"; Walter R.T. Witschey; 2016
Mesoweb: Maya Archaeology Reports: "Painted Lithic Artifacts from Piedras Negras, Guatemala"; Zachary X. Hruby, Gene Ware; 2009
Mesoweb: Maya Archaeology Reports: "Painted Lithic Artifacts from Piedras Negras, Guatemala"; Zachary X. Hruby, Gene Ware; 2009
Image Credits:
Actually archaeologists do know how the eccentrics were made. The blank was roughed out into a general shape using both direct and indirect percussion. Finer finishing was done with indirect percussion with the pieces anchored on a surface to avoid premature breakage. Workshops at Colha, Belize where eccentrics were made had broken pieces illustrating that it was indeed a delicate sculpting process and often failed. Who ever blogged this does not know much about lithic technology sorry to say.
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