Veracruz Black Basalt Hacha, 500 CE - 800 CE
Basalt
6.25
PF.0537
Forcefully carved, with a prominent crest on the forehead, deep wrinkles, and lips drawn back in a sneer, this hacha was used as a weight handicap in the ritual ballgame....
Forcefully carved, with a prominent crest on the forehead, deep wrinkles, and lips drawn back in a sneer, this hacha was used as a weight handicap in the ritual ballgame. The hacha, worn on a yoke around the waist, may have originated with human trophy heads--those of sacrificial victims or prisoners of war. We can believe, looking at this powerful emaciated visage, that it has been witness to ritual violence and that it is in some way associated with death.
Literature
V2