Mayan Eccentrics!

a reply to: skalla

No worries, I know the rules and where they do and don't bend, thanks though.

I did find something about the Mayans using enemas to administer something, rtually, probably a drug of some kind, but no more than that as to what.

I just tried to find the web page, couldn't find it, instead I got stories about the CIA "Mayan Jaguar" Cocaine smuggling operation in Europe via Africa. Those CIA boys and girls...tsk, tsk.

Anyway, I'll try a rephrasing with Google...

a reply to: Anaana

The thing about the enemas in Central/South America is ringing a major bell here too, it's a highly effective way to adminster stuff ofc, often avoids the sickness and belly ache associated with some things.

I'm not so knowledgable on The Americas archaeologically/culture wise etc.. there are quite a few bits linked via some of the stuff i used as sources and i've yet to go through it in any detail but certainly will over the coming weeks (busy-ish weekend etc ahead), so i may come across relevant info on this in future, though no doubt others here could shed some light on it if they stop by.

a reply to: skalla

Nice one they are lovely. Amazing skill level making stuff like that..

purp..

a reply to: skalla

Here we are...

The earliest accounts of rectal administration of psychoactive drugs come from the Ancient Mayan civilization where ritual enemas were commonly used to induce states of trance and were widely depicted on carvings and pottery.

The image above is a Mayan carving depicting a priest giving reclining man a large ritual enema to the point where he sees winged reptile Gods flying overhead. Sorry hipsters, your parties suck.

It wasn’t just the Mayans, though. The historical use of psychoactive enemas was known throughout the Americas and is still used by traditional societies today.

mindhacks.com...

Not coc aine though.

I will also continue to dig. Cheers.

fan tas tic.

these also could have been used for surgery.
I bet these are SHARP.
I wonder what they used for trepanation...

A few more Eccentrics...



Dumbarton Oaks Collection and Library





Houston Museum of Natural Science




Sold by Sotheby's for $134,500!



eta - picture did not load - see link for image, lesser example of the the more complex types

Bonhams are auctioning this, $6k should do it.

A tour de force of flint-napping, this eccentric flint depicts the cave opening to the Otherworld surrounded by six heads of K’awiil (or God K). Each profile head has its own bifurcated or serrated (plumed) headdress. Two addorsed heads project from the top edge (one with the head broken off). Two heads are oriented upward at the “shoulders”. Two additional heads are oriented downward, projecting outward from the side walls. Four notched projections – two along the top edge and two at the lower corners of the cave entrance – intersperse the heads. Three blades thrust downward from the lower edge. The two lateral blades (one broken at the tip) terminate in points and the longer, central blade terminates in two projecting smoking mirrors (one slightly broken).

Merrin Galleryhttp://

a reply to: skalla
Yet again very nice Skalla

The artists captured the "classic maya" facial profile quite accurately

a reply to: punkinworks10

Cheers, and they did indeed. It's been an interesting voyage for me really, i only knew of a few of the flashier examples when i started the thread, and have since saved a heap of papers, articles and so forth on the subject for later reading as well as finding many new examples that i had never seen before.. bloody glad i made the thread, it'll leave me a little bit richer by the time i've finished going through all the stuff i've gathered

originally posted by: anti72
fan tas tic.

these also could have been used for surgery.
I bet these are SHARP.
I wonder what they used for trepanation...

Initially i was expecting a long and thin obsidian obsidian biface, purely as a guess.... but, and I've only got wiki to go on so far (but i expect there should be some good links from there):

Specimens identified from the Maya civilization region of southern Mexico, Guatemala and the Yucatán Peninsula show no evidence of the drilling or cutting techniques found in central and highland Mexico. Instead, the pre-Columbian Maya seemed to have utilised an abrasive technique which ground away at the back of the skull, thinning the bone and sometimes perforating it

wiki

Gotta re-emphasise though i don't know a heap about the America's - i'm more of an Old World guy, i knew about these pieces initially from my interest in stone-tech.

Glad you liked looking at these, they really are stunning.

so one had a Lot of time on their hands.

originally posted by: buddha
so one had a Lot of time on their hands.

I know, if only they had lolcats back then :p

originally posted by: Kantzveldt
a reply to: skalla

By the looks of them to be used in ritual blood letting and laceration....

I did just find a suggested connection to blood-letting, and i have barely been through the various bits that i've saved..

Eccentric flints are placed in dedicatory caches in buildings and under stelae along with bloodletting implements such as stingray spines and precious jade and shell.

Sothebys' Auction Lot

Hi everyone!
I am a professional flint knapper. I study and make Mayan eccentrics.
My Facebook page is called Apocalithics.
I read the comments. I can tell you that none of the eccentrics were used for any utility function.
There were ample amounts of actual utility blades that using the art to cut and drill would be totally unnecessary. And would break the very delicate stone.
Flint is not carvable. It must be chipped into these shapes and you break a lot more than you make, attempting the large scale Mayan eccentrics like those ones. The stones that they were using to get those shapes were large, and of a pure enough quality (without inclusions or lines, fractures, heat damage, etc) and had to be bifaced thin enough to even be able to do the notching and punch work to create the designs.
The escort to the underworld "alligator canoe" is 16" long and it actually probably the thickest one of the whole lot of them at 3/4" thick at its thickest spot.
If you would like to know more...come check out my page Apocalithics and I have a gallery on there called Examples of the Finest, where I have compiled a number of Mayan Eccentric Flintknapped artworks.
Www.facebook.com/Apocalithics