OWL MACE HEADS
COSTA RICA, CENTRAL AMERICA
est. A.D. 300 TO 1550
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COPYRIGHT JULY 31, 2013 PETER A. BOSTROM

    This picture shows two examples of a common Costa Rican owl form mace head. The hafted example has a computer generated handle. In the past and around the world, owls have been seen more as a negative influence. They have been linked to death, magic, the underworld, harbingers of disaster, darkness, demons, prophesy, north wind, witchcraft, drought, a god of death, bird of ill omen and demonic influences, just to name a few. But on the other hand, they were seen by the Greeks as wise, by the Aztecs as having a powerful force of rejuvenation, and by the Australian aborigines as a sacred bird associated with rain, water and birth.
    In Mesoamerica the owl is connected to the underworld and the abode of the dead but also to a warrior class. At Teotihuacán (
central Mexico), owls are depicted on stone sculpture and ceramics as wearing weapons and shields. The Peruvian Moche culture also depicts the owl as a warrior. These Costa Rican owl maces may have once belonged to members of a warrior caste of wealthy individuals. Both of these maces were found on sites in the central highland of Costa Rica. The example at top appears to be made of a granite-like stone and it measures 2 inches (5.1 cm) high.

Two examples of owl effigy maces from Costa Rica.

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