
Cleveland Museum of Art
Axe
- Date
- c. 250–900 CE
- Medium
- chipped flint
- Culture
- Mexico or Central America, Maya
- Department
- Art of the Americas
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 159867
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
Axes with stone blades and wooden hafts were used to clear land for planting. This more fragile example, made entirely of chipped flint, is a ceremonial version probably used in rituals before it was deposited in a tomb or an offering. Late Classic Maya vase paintings make the ceremonial associations of axes clear. In these painted scenes, axe-wielding deities dance among skeletons and supernatural animals, or raise the axe to strike a sacrificial victim.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
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