tool/implement;
piercer
- Museum number
- Am1907,0608.3
- Description
-
Large perforator made of jadeite incised with a pair of motifs on the head or handle; probably ceremonial or symbolic rather than practical.
- Production date
- 1200 BC - 400 BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 38 centimetres
-
Width: 3 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Register addition "Olmec".
-
McEwan 2009
Ritual bloodletting was an ancient and widespread practice in Mesoamerica. It was undertaken as a solemn sacrificial gesture to deified ancestors in order to maintain a mindful and respectful relationship and elicit their good will in return. This kind of reciprocity underlay much of Mesoamerican religious practice. Bloodletting implements were fashioned out of bone, flint, green stones, stingray spines and shark teeth and were used in self-sacrifice rites which involved drawing blood from various parts of the body.
Carved in precious green jadeite, the size of this Olmec perforstor suggests that it was not actually used for bloodletting, but instead served as a highly visible element of ritual regalia to be carried and displayed on ceremonial occasions. The cleft gluph at the top recalls those on the Olmec adze and Teotihuacan stone mask and underlines the key symbolic purpose of these ritual instruments, which was to pierce the membrane marking the threshold between the visible and invisible worlds.
- Location
- On display (G27/dc1)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2005/6 Sept-Jan, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Lords Of Creation: Origin of Sacred Maya Kinship
- Acquisition date
- 1907
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Am1907,0608.3
