Cleveland Museum of Art

Spatula

Date

900–1492

Medium

manatee bone

Culture

Caribbean, Greater Antilles, Taino, 10th-15th century

Department

Art of the Americas

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In 1492, when Christopher Columbus sailed into the Caribbean, the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Jamaica and Puerto Rico were inhabited by the Taino people. Taino religious ceremonies often included the snuffing of hallucinogenic herbs to alter the consciousness and facilitate contact with the spirit world. Carved spatulas were used to blend the powdered herbs. After purifying the body through purging the stomach, the snuff was inhaled into both nostrils.

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