Although such vessels were made to be placed in tombs, it is unusual to find one that confronts the terrifying unknown of death so directly. A fearsome, nightmarish head stares at us with the empty eye sockets of a skull and the fanged, snarling grimace of a jaguar, a demon halfway between the world of the living and that of the dead. Such a powerful object transcends all cultural boundaries: it touches a chord deep within us all, reminding us that there are still things man does not know for certain.