PAGE 4 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
MAYAN ECCENTRICS
A.D. 150 TO A.D. 1400
(ECCENTRICS)
PAGE 4 OF 6 PAGES
COPYRIGHT MAY 31, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM
Mayan house in the Yucatan Peninsula.
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MAYAN HOUSE
YUCATAN
PENINSULA

     Maya houses have not changed very much over the years. This picture was taken in 1965 in Yucatan. Maya houses are made of thatched roofs and adobe walls. This design has been in use for well over a thousand years.

      During the excavation of the Maya site of Altar de Sacrificios in southwestern Peten, Guatemala in the 1960's a Peabody-Harvard project uncovered several eccentric flint caches. Most of the artifacts were bifacially flaked but a few were reported to be flaked on one side only (unifacial). They also reported no evidence of use-wear on the edges and they were made of finer quality chert or flint.

Mayan realistic scorpion eccentric.
MAYAN ECCENTRIC
REALISTIC SCORPION DESIGN
MAYA CULTURE
BELIZE
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   Scorpion eccentrics are found in a wide variety of different styles. The two main categories are the realistic varieties and the stylized versions. This one is a very good example of a realistic scorpion. It has obvious claws on the head, there are legs on the sides of the body and it has a highly curved tail. Scorpions were one of the more common eccentrics found during the 1960's excavations at Altar de Sacrificios in Guatemala. They recovered 24 examples, eight of which were realistic scorpions. All the realistic scorpions were bifacially flaked. The smallest example was a stylized scorpion that measured 1 3/8 inches (3.5 cm) long. The longest example was also a stylized scorpion that measured 4 5/16 inches (11 cm) long.

   There were a total of 270 eccentric flints found on the site of Altar de Sacrificios during the 1960's excavations. They include designs of circles, crescents, s-shaped figures, crosses and various life forms.

Mayan realistic scorpion eccentric.
MAYAN ECCENTRIC
REALISTIC SCORPION DESIGN
MAYA CULTURE
BELIZE
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This eccentric illustrates another example of a realistic scorpion. It also has the obvious claws, legs and curved tail. Realistic scorpions can have either straight or curved tails. This example is made of a good quality chert. 

   A typical eccentric flint cache from the Altar de Sacrificios site may have 9 eccentrics. For example, number 5 cache was found under an altar. The 9 eccentrics found there include 4 notched & serrated blades, a jaguar or dog, scorpion, double crescent, multi-notched & serrated blade and a double-pointed biface. An obsidian bladelet was also found in this cache.

Mayan stylized scorpion eccentric.
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MAYAN ECCENTRIC
STYLIZED SCORPION DESIGN
MAYA CULTURE
BELIZE
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     Stylized scorpion eccentrics are described as having one tail rather than the two tails this one has. But a guess is that this example was also meant to represent a scorpion. It is very well made, in fact better than most examples that have been published. This one was made on a flake and is basically unifacial except for the pressure flaking on the projections on the claws and tails. The curve of the original flake can be seen in the edge view. This eccentric is very heavily patinated.

   Another cache from the Altar de Sacrificios site also includes 9 eccentrics and was found near an altar. This cache contained 2 axe-like forms, 2 scorpions, a crescent, ring, an s-form, a notched double-pointed blade and a centipede. There were also 677 obsidian core blades, cores and flakes found with this cache.

Mayan stylized scorpion eccentric.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE

MAYAN ECCENTRIC
STYLIZED SCORPION DESIGN
MAYA CULTURE
BELIZE
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     This stylized scorpion illustrates another scorpion tail design which in this case is rounded and stubby. The greatest variation in scorpion eccentrics are the tails. Tails can either be straight or curved with narrow widths and pointed or wide curving tails made with a single large notch on the edge. Or like this one they can be short rounded and stubby. There may even be scorpions with double tails. This one is unifacially flaked and is very well made. The edge view shows a very straight profile.

    Another slightly larger cache of eccentrics found at Altar de Sacrificios, Guatemala contained 13 eccentrics. This cache was thought to have been placed through a plaza floor at the time of the placement of Altar number 4. This one contained 4 laurel-leaf blades, 3 notched double-pointed blades, 2 elaborated perforated forms, a very complex unnamed form, 2 trident crescents and a double-notched pointed blade.

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE FIVE

"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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