Anonymous: Maya eccentric flint (7th–8th century)

(Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA)

A sculpture made by an unknown Mayan artist. This piece is made from a single piece of flint (!) and measures 34.6 x 19.1 x 1.6 cm. The flint depicts, in profile, two figures wearing headdresses. The larger of the two sits on a small short-backed stool and the smaller extends out from his back, as if being carried. The undecorated base of this flint would have enabled it to be bound to a staff or it may have served as a handle allowing the object to function as a scepter, perhaps as an emblem of rulership. The exact function pf these flints are unknown. They have been found in Maya graves but also beneath temples. Maya thought that flint was created when lightning struck the earth. Maybe the flint represent a personification of such a power. Flint from the A.D. 7th/ 8th century