PAGE 3 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
AZTEC BIFACES
AZTEC CULTURE
MEXICO
A.D. 1175 TO 1521
PAGE 3 OF 4 PAGES
COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 3O, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM
REPEATED EXAMPLES OF THE "FLINT KNIFE" GLYPH

   The earliest "thick" bifaces are simple hand axes that have been found in Africa on Lower Paleolithic sites in large numbers. They date to many hundreds of thousands of years old. The earliest "thin" bifaces are found in France and Spain and date to the Solutrean Period sometime between 21,000 and 18,000 years ago.

Large 24 inch long Aztec biface.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE
VERY LARGE AZTEC BIFACE
MEXICO
 LATE PRECLASSIC PERIOD
 A.D. 1175 TO 1521
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This extraordinarily large biface is one of the most skillfully made examples in the world and is a testimony to the highly skilled Aztec "flint smiths" of Pre-Columbian Mexico.  There are no more than a handful of flintknappers today that would be able to duplicate this large ceremonial knife. But the difficultly today, just as it must have been for the Aztec craftsmen, was the availability of material big enough to make bifaces this large.
   This very long biface still maintains what was apparently a standard shape for Aztec bifaces, no mater how large or small they were. The widest point on this biface is located 7 1/2 inches (19 cm) from the point and it tapers, with straight edges, down to a pointed base. This ceremonial knife measures 24 1/4 inches (61.5 cm) long and 2 3/4 inches (7 cm) wide. The thickest point, near the center, is slightly under 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick.
   This biface was originally owned by William Baumann. He was in possession of it in the 1960's but there is no record of it before that.

    Large thin bifaces, like the ones illustrated in this article, are rare. Late Stone Age cultures in the Americas produced some of the largest and most skillfully made bifaces in the world. For example, the two largest bifaces ever found in Egypt measure 19 7/16 inches (50 cm) long. They were found in a tomb at Helwan south of Cairo. Some of the largest bifaces found in the Americas have come from California where examples have been found that measure 30 inches or more. Late Mississippian sites in the southeastern United States have also produced very large bifaces. One of the "dance swords" from the Duck River cache, in Tennessee, measures 28 inches (71.1 cm) long. One of the Aztec bifaces in this article measures 24 1/4 inches (61.5 cm) long.

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

    This is another great example of a large Aztec biface. This biface is much larger than most examples, but it still has the "classic" outline. The widest area is near the point and it has long tapering edges that form a pointed base. It is made of a semi-translucent amber colored chert or chalcedony and measures 12 5/16 inches (31.3 cm) long and 3 1/8 inches (7.8 cm) wide.

    The largest Aztec bifaces were made out of a semi-translucent amber colored chert. This material was ideal for making large bifaces because of it's natural tabular form. Some bifaces still have small patches of the outer cortex on both sides, indicating that it was tabular chert. Tabular chert is found in limestone or chalk formations.


MAGNIFIED VIEW SHOWING EXPERT PERCUSSION FLAKING THROUGH A NATURAL FLAW IN STONE
AZTEC BIFACE
 MEXICO
 LATE PRECLASSIC PERIOD
 A.D. 1175 TO 1521
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This picture shows a magnified view of a large percussion flake that successfully thinned an area around a natural flaw line in the stone. It angles diagonally through the flake removal area. The flake was struck from the edge and continued with enough force to thin this problem area. Evidence like this illustrates the high degree of skill these craftsmen had to make these large ceremonial knives.

   Aztec bifaces represent an important part of Aztec mythology. The images of Aztec bifaces were carved in stone in the form of glyphs and drawn as illustrations in manuscripts. In the Aztec ritual calendar, they represent a day called  "flint knife". "Flint knife" day was also represented by an Aztec god.

Large Aztec biface.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE
AZTEC BIFACE
MEXICO
 LATE PRECLASSIC PERIOD
 A.D. 1175 TO 1521
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This biface is the second largest example out of the seven illustrated in this article. It was exceptionally well made by using both percussion and pressure flaking. There is one small restoration repair to one edge. This Aztec biface is pictured in 1960 in "Who's Who In Indian Relics" in a picture where Byron Knoblock, who wrote "Bannerstones of the North American Indian" is holding it. This biface measures 14 5/8 inches (37.1 cm) long and 3 3/4 inches (9.5 cm) wide.

    Aztec culture used two different calendar systems: a 365 day solar year and a 260 day ritual calendar. The first days of both calendar systems aligned very 52 years. The "flint knife" glyph is used in both calendars. There are 20 different day names in the 260 day calendar such as vulture, serpent, motion, wind, jaguar, deaths head, etc. Each of these 20 named days lasted 13 full days. So a "flint knife" glyph will have an outline of a biface (knife) along with 1 to 13 dots to represent the specific day.

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE FOUR

"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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