Page 566 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

Aztec ritual was the center of attention during the
month of Izcalli, when ritual impersonators of
the god were burned in fires and then subjected
to the knife. M.D.C.

395

HUMAN SKULL WITH KNIVES
Aztec
bone, pyrite, flint
16.5 (6V 2)
CNCA—INAH—MEX, Museo Templo Mayor,
Mexico City

Several skulls were found among the offerings in
the Aztec Great Temple. This mask-skull from
offering 57, with small perforations in the fore-
Such decorated sacrificial knives have been found head, has eyes of bone and pyrite that can still be
in many Aztec offerings. Sacrificial knives, called seen. The skull has stone knives inserted into the
tecpatl in the Nahuatl language, were embellished nasal cavities and another into the mouth, which
with shell and obsidian simulating eyes and teeth. we interpret as the representation of cutting off
The flint knife was very important in Aztec cul- the flow of life-giving air. It is, therefore, a most
ture. It symbolized the northerly course of the poignant expression of death. In pre-Hispanic
universe, and was associated with cold and death. Mexico, death and life were united in a constant
It was also the name of a year. In view of their use cycle that man observed in nature. E.M.M.
in sacrificial rites, it is not surprising that such
knives have been found in several offerings at the
Great Temple. E.M.M.

394

SACRIFICIAL KNIFE

Aztec or Mixtec
wood and flint
*9 (7^)
American Museum of Natural History, New York

This knife has been restored by adding an old flint
blade to the wooden handle, but there can be little
doubt that the original instrument was used to
extract hearts from war captives. Unless, as seems
unlikely, the handle comes from an old European
collection, it was probably found in a dry cave,
which would suggest a provenance in Puebla,
Oaxaca, or Guerrero, which have many such
caves. The style is late post-classic, but the handle
could be of either Mixtec or Aztec manufacture.
The figure apparently represents a deity; the
beard along with the crooked fangs at the corners
of the mouth lead one to believe that it is Xiuhtec-
uhtli (see cat. 362), the aged fire god, who in

THE AMERICAS 565