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MAYAN ECCENTRICS
A.D. 150 TO A.D. 1400
(ECCENTRICS)
PAGE 3 OF 6 PAGES
COPYRIGHT MAY 31, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM
Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza.
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PYRAMID OF KUKULKAN
MAYA CULTURE
CHICHEN ITZA
YUCATAN PENINSULA, MEXICO

    The pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza is the most impressive structure on this Maya site. This 79 foot tall pyramid was built over an earlier structure. The most recent one was constructed during the second period, Maya Toltex, occupation sometime between A.D. 950 and A.D. 1200. About 60% of this pyramid has been restored. During the equinox the sun casts a shadow that appears to be a snake slithering down the pyramid.
   The Mayans believed that blood was the drink of the Gods and that the people exist only to maintain the Gods. They believed that man was made from corn meal and that corn was the only flesh contained in the flesh of the ancestors.

     An example of just how intense stone tool production was at the Colha workshop sites in northern Belize was shown by Erwin Roemer (1980 thesis). He counted all the flakes, measuring 1 3/16 inches (3 cm) and above,  from a test excavation on a blade workshop at Colha. The excavation was 2 meters square and 1.5 meters deep. The waste flakes, larger than 1 3/16 inches (3 cm), retrieved from this excavation exceeded 21 million!

12 Mayan eccentric flints from Belize.
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MAYAN ECCENTRICS FROM BELIZE
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This selection of 12 Mayan eccentrics were collected from different caches on sites believed to be in Belize. They all represent very good examples for the various styles they represent. Most of them are bifacially flaked. But some of them still retain some of the original flake scar on one side. They illustrate just a few of the multitude of different forms that have been found. It's obvious that some of them are meant to represent animal forms and others non animate geometric forms. They were all made of good quality cherts that has become heavily patinated. The largest eccentric in this group is the serrated ring. It measures 4 1/2 inches (11.4 cm) in diameter.

   Eccentrics were produced on Mayan lithic workshop sites by specialized craftsmen. The average Maya citizen probably never had any reason to own or handle them. Eccentric flints were apparently used only within the elite upper class of Maya society.

Mayan serrated ring eccentric.
 MAYAN ECCENTRIC
SERRATED RING DESIGN
MAYA CULTURE
BELIZE
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This serrated ring eccentric is a very fine example. It's bifacially flaked and is made from good quality chert that is semi-translucent. At the Altar de Sacrificios site in Guatemala one un-serrated ring eccentric was found in an Early Classic Period cache and another was found in a Late Classic Period cache. This example measures 4 1/2 inches (11.4 cm) in diameter.

   Many eccentrics have been found on Maya sites by credible scientific institutions. A lot of the data that has been recovered from those excavations can be read in published reports. That information indicates that eccentrics are almost always found in a ceremonial context where they were place as the result of a ritual event.

Mayan "matese" cross eccentric.
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MAYAN ECCENTRIC
"MALTESE" CROSS DESIGN
MAYA CULTURE
BELIZE
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This round disc eccentric with four notches resembles a "maltese" cross design. It's bifacially flaked and very thin. A similar example is illustrated and reported from the Barton Ramie site in central Belize. Six round disc forms with three notches, one less than this example, called trifurcates are reported from the 1960's excavations at Altar de Sacrificios in Guatemala. A Maya craftsman used percussion, pressure and indirect punch flaking to make this "maltese" cross eccentric. It measures 2 3/4 inches (7 cm) in diameter.

   Eccentric flints are almost always found in caches as votive offerings to Maya gods. They are found as dedicatory caches in different locations on platform temple mounds near altars, stairs, construction fill and stela. They are also found in royal tombs.

Mayan multi-notched and serrated eccentric.
 MAYAN ECCENTRIC
MULTI-NOTCHED AND SERRATED BIFACE
MAYA CULTURE
BELIZE
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     Multi-notched serrated blades or bifaces seem to be a little more common that many of the other eccentric flint styles. The one pictured here is a very good example. The 1960's excavations at Altar de Sacrificios produced 53 similar examples. Those were multi-notched and serrated but unlike this example they were either pointed on one or both ends.

   In Maya culture the two main types of caches are utilitarian and votive. Utilitarian caches were used for either protection or storage and the intent was retrieve them for later use. Votive caches are purely ceremonial offerings and were left as offerings to one or more of the Maya gods.

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"REFERENCES"

1946, "The Ancient Maya," by Sylvanus G. Morley, page 436.
1965, "Prehistoric Maya Settlements in the Belize Valley," by Gordon R. Willey, William R. Bullard, john B. Glass & James C. Gifford, pp. 25-28, 421, 445-452.
1971, "The Maya," by Michael D. Coe, pp.149-150.
1972, "The Artifacts of Altar De Sacrificios," by Gordon R. Willey, pp181-219.
1972, "Excavations At Altar De Sacrificios," by A. Ledyard Smith, pp. 110-113, 204-211.
1978, "Teotihuacan, Tepeapulco, & Obsidian Exploitation," Science 200, by Thomas H. Charlton, pp. 1227-1236
1983, "Pulltrouser Swamp," Ancient Maya Habitat, Agriculture, and Settlement in Northern Belize, 12. The Lithic Artifacts of the Pulltrouser Area: Settlements and Fields, by Harry J. Shafer, pp. 219-120.
1984, "Exploitation of Chert Resources by the Ancient Maya of Northern Belize, Central America," World Archaeology Vol. 16 No. 2, by Thomas R. Hester and Harry J. Shafer, pp. 157- 170.
1984, "Cenote of Sacrifice," edited by C. Chase Coggins & Orrin C. Shane.
1991, "Maya Artistry Unearthed," National Geographic, Sept. 1991, by William L. Fash, Jr. and Ricardo Agurcia Fasquelle, pp. 94-105.
1991, "Maya Stone Tools," Selected Papers from the Second Maya Lithic Conference, The Flaked Cert Industry of Tikal, Guatemala, by Hattula Moholy-Nagy, pp., 197-199.
1991, "Maya Stone Tools," Selected Papers from the Second Maya Lithic Conference, Late Preclassic Formal Tool Production at Colha, Belize, by Harry J. Shafer pp. 31 &  38.
1991, "Maya Stone Tools," Selected Papers from the Second Maya Lithic Conference, Lithic Artifacts From Cerros, Belize: Production, Consumption, and Trade, by Beverly A. Mitchum pp. 45.
1991, "Maya Stone Tools," Selected Papers from the Second Maya Lithic Conference, "Structure and Dynamics of Intercommunity Exchange." by Patricia A. McAnany, pp. 271-272.
1993, "Elites, Eccentrics, and Empowerment in the Maya Area:" by Gyles Iannone & James M. Conlon, pp. 3-5.
1996, "The Oxford Companion To Archaeology", by Brian M. Fagan, pp. 406-415.
1997, "Craftsmen to the Kings," Rural Maya Stone Technology at Colha, Belize by Dr. Harry J. Shafer & Dr. Thomas R. Hester, page 6.
1998, "Investigations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala: 1998 Field Season," by Stephen D. Houston, pp. 1& 2.
2001, "Northern Yucatan Obsidian Finds - Merida and Chichen Itza," Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc., by Geoffrey E. Braswell, p. 1.

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