Mayan "death head" marine shell tinklers or beads.
MAYAN TINKLERS
Mayan "death head" marine shell tinklers or beads.
"DEATH HEAD" SHELL BEADS
COPYRIGHT APRIL 30, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM
Mayan marine shell tinklers or beads.

ABSTRACT:
Mayan "death head" marine shell tinklers or beads.
MAYAN MARINE SHELL TINKLERS
BELIZE OR GUATEMALA
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This article illustrates and describes four Oliva marine shell tinkler beads that are believed to be from either Belize of Guatemala. They are carved in the shape of a death head design or skulls.

    "Oliva tinklers are a widespread Maya lowland & Mesoamerican trait"-1946, Kidder, Jennings & Shook, pp. 148-149.
    "Tinklers are little spiral univalves, either Oliva sp., of which we have 16 or Jenneria pustulata, of which we have 39"--1972, "The Artifacts of Altar De Sacrificios," by Gordon R. Willey, pp. 220-223.

Mayan "death head" marine shell tinklers or beads.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE
MAYAN MARINE SHELL TINKLERS
LATE PRECLASSIC TO LATE CLASSIC PERIOD
BELIZE OR GUATEMALA
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   These four "death head" marine Oliva shell tinklers were probably suspended around the neck, possibly with other beads on a necklace. They were all drilled on both sides at the top and a portion of the spiral on the bottom was ground or cut away. The largest shell in this group measures 1 15/16 inches (4.9 cm) long.

     The images on these four engraved tinklers are strong and very well done. They were probably carved by one of the many skilled craftsmen that were working within the Mayan Classic or Postclassic periods sometime before A.D. 1200. A few examples that appear to be similar in design, but were carved in jade, were found on the Maya city of Rio Azul in northern Guatemala. They are illustrated on page 432 in the April 1986 issue of National Geographic magazine. They appear to be drilled through vertically and also drilled on both sides of the top end like these examples.

Mayan "death head" tinkler, front & back views.
MAYAN MARINE SHELL TINKLERS
PRECLASSIC---POSTCLASSIC PERIODS
BELIZE OR GUATEMALA
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This is the largest of the four shell tinklers in this collection. One curious thing is that all the holes for the right nostrils are slightly higher than the left ones.

   Gordon R. Willey (1972) describes tinklers as "little spiral univalves." This is in reference to 55 (unengraved) examples that they found while excavating on the Altar de Sacrificios site in Guatemala in the 1960's. They were made from both Oliva sp. and Jenneria pustulata marine shells. They found these examples in both refuse and with burials and they were dated from the Late Preclassic Period to the Late Classic Period (A.D. 100 to A.D. 900). Willey (1972) also writes that "Oliva shell tinklers or beads are common to the Maya lowland sites and that they seem to be met with more frequently in Late Classic levels."

Mayan "death head" marine shell tinklers, back view.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE
MAYAN MARINE SHELL TINKLERS
CLASSIC OR POSTCLASSIC PERIOD
BELIZE OR GUATEMALA
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This picture shows the back of the four marine Oliva shell tinklers. A couple of them have quite a lot of encrusted patination. One end of the shells are drilled on both sides for suspension and the spirals on the bottom have been cut or ground away.

    There is no doubt that the Maya were master artists. Their art was sustained for hundreds of years by a society that was able to support an infrastructure of highly skilled craftsmen. Many of the images they placed on plastered walls, carved stones, bone, ceramics or shell are powerful. These marine shell tinklers are no exception.

"REFERENCES"

1965, "Prehistoric Maya Settlements in the Belize Valley," by Gordon R. Willey, William R. Bullard, john B. Glass & James C. Gifford, pp. 505-508.
1972, "The Artifacts of Altar De Sacrificios," by Gordon R. Willey, pp. 220-223.
1986, "Rio Azul," National Geographic, April. 1986, by Richard E. W. Adams, p. 432.

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