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AZTEC BIFACES
AZTEC CULTURE
MEXICO
A.D. 1175 TO 1521
PAGE 1 OF 4 PAGES
COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 3O, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM
Axtec biface 24 inches long & "personified bifaces".
LARGE AZTEC BIFACE & "PERSONIFIED BIFACES"
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

     The smaller bifaces have computer drawn eyes and teeth and are "personified bifaces" that represent a glyph for one of the days in the Aztec ritual calendar. The large Aztec biface in this picture measures 24 1/4 inches (61.5 cm) long.

AZTEC BIFACES
MEXICO
LATE PRECLASSIC PERIOD
A.D. 1175 TO 1521

   This article illustrates several examples of Aztec style bifaces from private collections. They were collected several years ago and unfortunately have no provenance. But their style and the materials they were made from, are the same as other examples that have been found on Aztec sites in central Mexico. These large bifaces were apparently not intended for domestic use. In fact, evidence shows that Aztec bifaces were used in some of the most exotic ways ever devised for large stone ceremonial knives.

    "By 1500, Aztec social organization had become extremely complicated---".---1996, Brian M. Fagan, "The Oxford Companion To Archaeology", p. 78. 
    "--skulls served as a kind of war trophy, they must have made a profound impression on the enemy.---Sometimes a silex (stone) knife is thrust into the nasal cavity and shells are placed along the mouth".---1990
, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, "Treasures of the Great Temple", p. 78.
    The 260-day cycle was composed of 20 groups of named and numbered days. Each received a name, such as rabbit, water, flint knife---".---1992, Richard F. Townsend, "The Aztecs", p. 123.

Group of various examples of Aztec bifaces.
AZTEC BIFACES
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

Drawings of the flint blade glyph.


AZTECS &
AZTEC BIFACES

by Peter A. Bostrom

    Sometime between A.D. 900 and 1175 people began to migrate into the central valley of Mexico from the north. These were the people who were later to become the Aztec empire. The Toltec Empire collapsed in 1175 and within the following 150 years nearly all of the major Aztec cities were formed. Between the years 1350 and 1428 there was a major population surge that was accompanied by agricultural intensification, growth of market trade, urbanization and political expansion. Between the years 1428 and 1519 the Aztec Empire expanded further through alliances and by 1519 they had conquered much of Mesoamerica.


CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE

AZTEC BIFACE
MEXICO
LATE PRECLASSIC PERIOD
A.D. 1175 TO 1521
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This Aztec biface is a "classic" example. It is the smallest one illustrated in this report but most Aztec bifaces would probably average in size, smaller than this example. These ritual knives are widest very near the point and taper at a steep angle to a pointed base. Sometimes the points are accentuated with an added artistic touch, formed by flaking the edges concavely near the point. This biface was exceptionally well made with percussion flaking and fine pressure flaking on the edges. It is made of a good quality piece of white chert and measures 7 3/8 inches (18.6 cm) long and 2 5/8 inches (6.6 cm) wide.

  The Aztec Empire was at its peak when Hernando Cortes landed on the coast of Veracruz in 1519 with a Spanish army of 450 solders and 16 horses. The estimated total area under Aztec control at this time, was 77,000 square miles with a population of 5 to 6 million people. Less than two years later, by August 1, 1521, the Spanish defeated them in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City is today, by a blockade. As a result of the 75 day blockade an estimated 240,000 people died of starvation before surrendering. The reason given for the seemingly easy defeat of so many by so few is the smallpox disease carried by the Spanish solders, military technology and military tactics.

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE TWO

"REFERENCES"

1973, Perino, Gregory, "Artifacts Made From Tabular Flint", Central State Archaeological Journal, April #2, pp. 60-65.
1981
, Stuart, Gene S., "The Mighty Aztecs", p. 32.
1988
, Tattersall, Ian, Eric Delson & John Van Couvering, "Encyclopedia of Human Evolution & Prehistory", pp.91 and 532-533.
1989
, Moctezuma, Eduardo Matos, "The Aztecs" The Aztecs' Conception of the Cosmos pp. 116-121, Art pp. 164-169, The Resurrection of the Gods pp.196-190.
1990, Moctezuma, Eduardo Matos, "Treasures of the Great Temple", War and Death pp. 78 & 79.
Personal communications with Tom Hester.
1994, Whittaker, John C., "Flintknapping", Terminations, pp. 106-109.
1999, Patten, Bob, "Old Tools--New Eyes", p. 109.

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