GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Maya perfected the art of chipping flint to create thin, flat blades (tok’) for sacrificial and ceremonial use. The complex shapes of many of these objects, which are too fragile for use as cutting tools, have earned them the designation "eccentric flints." Archaeologists have found them in elite tombs and in offertory caches associated with dedication and termination rituals for architecture and stone monuments. Such symbolically charged objects may also have functioned as talismans for living kings. This extraordinary flint was reportedly found together with another in the Dallas Museum of Art's collection (2009.26), as part of a cache that included a third example now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.[1]
This particularly elaborate flint is shaped as a monstrous crocodile-shaped canoe. Silhouetted human heads mark the stern of the boat and the foreleg of the animal. Three passengers, shown as profile heads facing right, are thrust backward by the force of the canoe’s dramatic downward plunge. Maya scholars Linda Schele and David Freidel have interpreted this image as a moment in the Maya story of the Fourth Creation of the world on August 13, 3114 BCE, when a crocodile canoe, paddled by gods, takes the soul of the sacrificed Maize God, or First Father, to the place where he will be miraculously reborn. The creation story seems to have been closely connected with Maya astronomy, in which the movements of the stars annually reenact these events. Looking skyward on August 13, the Milky Way stretches from east to west, resembling a cosmic monster, or canoe. After midnight the Milky Way pivots to a north-south position, and the canoe sinks to the underwater spirit world. The Maya saw this pivoting as the sinking of the canoe and the raising of the precious maize tree. Just before dawn the three stars of Orion appear overhead, signifying the three hearthstones of creation where First Father was reborn as Maize, the sustenance and flesh of humanity.
In this example, water flowers decorate the crocodile canoe's belly as it sinks down into the dark waters of the spirit world. Inside are the soul of the sacrificed First Father accompanied by two attendants, who may be embodiments of his parents. Because it represents this mythic act, this blade was probably an especially powerful talisman of a living king, who became the reincarnation of First Father as he held the blade. The blade itself, bundled in textiles, was probably carried by the king into battle as the focus for his spiritual energies and as his tactical inspiration. The flinty stone connoted lightning to the Maya and was called by the same name as the bright but dangerous bolts of light that accompany life sustaining rain.
[1] For more information on the Houston flint, please see the Web Resources section on this page.
Adapted from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Eccentric flint depicting a crocodile canoe with passengers (1983.45.McD) and Eccentric flint with heads of K'awil, the god of royal lineage (2009.26)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 44-45.
- Carol Robbins, "Eccentric flint depicting a crocodile canoe with passengers (1983.45.McD)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 189.
- Carol Robbins, Label text, A. H. Meadows Galleries, 2010.
NOTES
- Maya, Late Classic, 600–900 C.E. (noted on TMS), updated by KJones on 09/23/13 and 06/18/14.
- Fun Facts Sources: "Eccentric flint depicting a crocodile canoe with passengers (1983.45.McD)," DMA.mobi, Dallas Museum of Art, 2012 (accessed 13 March 2015); TMS, Notes/Curatorial Remarks, 1991.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619
Maya: AAT: 300017826
Lowland Maya: AAT: 300017099
Geography
Guatemala (nation): TGN: 7005493
Process/materials
flint (rock): AAT: 300011143
carving: AAT: 300053149
chipping: AAT: 300053752
Historical periods
Classic (mesoamerican period): AAT: 300016983
Late Classic Period: AAT: 300016986
Individuals
Maize God (Hun Hunahpu / First Father / Mesoamerican and Maya deity): DMA
Subject terms
ritual objects: AAT: 300312158
ceremonial objects: AAT: 300234117
blade (tool and equipment components): AAT: 30002491
cutting (dividing): AAT: 300053069
sacrifices: AAT: 300263243
king: AAT: 300025481
rulers (people): AAT: 300025475
talismans: AAT: 300234011
tombs: AAT: 300005926
crocodile (crocodylidae family): AAT: 300250293
flower (motif): AAT: 300375563
waterlily (nymphaea genus): AAT: 300375575
dugout canoes: AAT: 300212722
paddles (watercraft equipment): AAT: 300213080
figures: AAT: 300189808
profiles (figures): AAT: 300123319
head: AAT: 300262520
creation (doctrinal concept): AAT: 300069002
myth: AAT: 300201023
reincarnation: AAT: 300073437
deities: AAT: 300343850
ancestors: AAT: 300255718
genealogies (histories): AAT: 300027015
founders (originators): AAT: 300112017
astronomy (sciences): AAT: 300054534
Gemini (zodiac symbols): AAT: 300169874
suns (stars): AAT: 300379806
stars (extraterrestrial bodies): AAT: 300387654
underworld (doctrinal concept): AAT: 300343823
cosmology (cosmological / disciplines): AAT: 300054294
tree of life (general motif / axis mundi /cosmic axis / world axis / world tree): AAT: 300312112
God K (K’awil / K'awiil / Maya deity of lightning/fire/royal lineage): DMA
Milky Way (galaxies / extraterrestrial bodies): DMA
cosmic monster (earth monster / sky monster / celestial snake / Milky Way): DMA
eccentric flint (tok' / sacrificial or ceremonial blades): DMA
wrapping (surface covering process): AAT: 300234992
textile materials: AAT: 300231565
wars: AAT: 300055314
battles: AAT: 300185692
lightning: AAT: 300068795
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1970s: Sr. Castillo, Guatemala [1]
Until 1979: Spencer Throckmorton, New York [1]
1979-1983: Peter G. Wray, Phoenix, AZ [1], [2], [3]
From 1983: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Mrs. Alex Spence, purchased from the above [3], [4], [5]
[1] The main source for this provenance is Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) Object Directory for New Acquisitions of Archaeological Material and Works of Ancient Art, 2015, https://aamd.org/object-registry/new-acquisitions-of-archaeological-material-and-works-of-ancient-art/browse (February 20, 2015). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The main source for this provenance is letter from John Lunsford to Harry S. Parker and Steven A. Nash, regarding the Peter Wray collection (dated March 23, 1983, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[3] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Record (dated June 09, 1983, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[4] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
[5] Works of art given or purchased by The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., a non-profit organization, are placed in the custody of the DMA for the purpose of public display on the premises of the Museum or in other recognized art galleries or museum. The title to all works of art purchased (or otherwise acquired) by the McDermott Art Fund remains with the Fund.
AUDIO ASSETS
- 13316227: UMO. Audio: 08/07/2012, "The Order of Days: The Mayan 2012 Phenomenon," Boshell Family Lecture Series on Archaeology; speaker is Dr. David Stuart, the foremost expert on Mayan hieroglyphs, explores the Maya’s prediction of "the end of the world in 2012." (Presented in conjunction with the exhibition The Legacy of the Plumed Serpent in Ancient Mexico.) [Note: Also listed in Maya Content Chunk].
- 13313404: UMO. 13313604: UMO. Audio: Maya Cosmos - 2/18/1993, "Maya Cosmos," 1993 Ancient Art of the New World lecture series; speaker is from the Department of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University, David Freidel. [2 files]. [Note: May relate to Eccentric Flint (1983.45.McD) and/or Lidded Bowl with peccary (1972.10.a-b)??. Also listed in Maya Content Chunk].
- 264283028: UMO. Curator Heather MacDonald discusses six works in the Museum's collection that inspired the new musical composition, A Question of Light, inspired by objects in the DMA and dedicated to Margaret McDermott, presented in partnership with the Dallas Opera, 2011; Objects include Eccentric flint (1983.45.McD); Gerald Murphy, Watch (1963.75.FA); Magritte, The Light of Coincidences (1981.9); Mondrian, Place de la Concorde (1982.22.FA); Tamayo, El Hombre (1953.22); Caillebotte, Yellow Roses in a Vase (2010.13.McD)
VIDEO ASSETS
12937062: UMO. Curator Carol Robbins discusses the eccentric flint.
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
Museum of Fine Arts Houston~Read more about the flint in the MFAH's collection.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- This eccentric flint, a second flint in the DMA's collection, Eccentric flint with heads of K'awil (2009.26), and a third flint now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (Ceremonial Flint with K'awiil and Two Lords in a Monster-Headed Canoe) were found together as part of cache, reportedly in Guatemala. All three were acquired from the collection of Peter Wray, Phoenix, AZ. For more information on the Houston flint, please see the Web Resources section on this page.
- The following poem is inspired by the Eccentric Flint: “Eccentric Flint” by Gene Scheer (2008): Carve away-what does not bring me closer to the sky. All that slows-the current racing towards what cannot die. The fertile dust of starlight Never quite dissolved, The bloom of endless echo Of a chord yet unresolved. Over and under, over and under, We are more than the wing we pray. Over and under, over and under, Through the waves of the Milky Way. A grammatical constellation A syntactical splash of sparks As the stars undulate the heavens Twisting into question marks. And you wonder where you’re going. Where did it all begin? Does the voyage to each destination Take me back to a place I’ve already been? Over and under, over and under, We are more than the things we pray. Over and under, over and under, Through the waves of the Milky Way.
- Called "the most astonishing image of death in Maya art," the Eccentric Flint represents an animate canoe as it dives into the Maya Underworld, Xibalba. The monster head on one end of the Flint has an upturning snout and jade noseplugs. The front foot of the Monster/Canoe terminates in a human head. On the Monster/Canoe's back ride three individuals, presumably deceased kings, whose heads are thrown back by the force of the monster's dive. The dorsal end of the Monster/Canoe is another head of a king, as indicated by the projections from the forehead of the heads, known from other imagery to be smoking axes or cigars that identify the face as God K, the First Royal Ancestor. This flint was found with two other extraordinary eccentric flints in a single cache somewhere in the Maya area. Each is too complex and too fragile to have been used as a cutting tool. Instead, they infused spirit into the monument under which they were placed. In Maya art, the image of a canoe with several supernatural passengers usually indicates a journey of deceased royalty into the Underworld. A well-known image of Lord Chocolate of Tikal being paddled into the watery depths is seen on the Incised Bones of Tikal which were deposited in the tomb of Lord Chocolate under Temple I. The DMA Eccentric Flint has been widely published (Schele and Miller, Blood of Kings, 1986; Philip Kopper, The Smithsonian Book of North American Indians, 1986; Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica, 1985) and was included in The Blood of Kings exhibition at the Kimbell Art Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art (1986).
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1983.45.McD
Category
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General Description
The Maya perfected the art of chipping flint to create thin, flat blades (tok’) for sacrificial and ceremonial use. The complex shapes of many of these objects, which are too fragile for use as cutting tools, have earned them the designation "eccentric flints." Archaeologists have found them in elite tombs and in offertory caches associated with dedication and termination rituals for architecture and stone monuments. Such symbolically charged objects may also have functioned as talismans for living kings. This extraordinary flint was reportedly found together with another in the Dallas Museum of Art's collection (2009.26), as part of a cache that included a third example now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.[1]
This particularly elaborate flint is shaped as a monstrous crocodile-shaped canoe. Silhouetted human heads mark the stern of the boat and the foreleg of the animal. Three passengers, shown as profile heads facing right, are thrust backward by the force of the canoe’s dramatic downward plunge. Maya scholars Linda Schele and David Freidel have interpreted this image as a moment in the Maya story of the Fourth Creation of the world on August 13, 3114 BCE, when a crocodile canoe, paddled by gods, takes the soul of the sacrificed Maize God, or First Father, to the place where he will be miraculously reborn. The creation story seems to have been closely connected with Maya astronomy, in which the movements of the stars annually reenact these events. Looking skyward on August 13, the Milky Way stretches from east to west, resembling a cosmic monster, or canoe. After midnight the Milky Way pivots to a north-south position, and the canoe sinks to the underwater spirit world. The Maya saw this pivoting as the sinking of the canoe and the raising of the precious maize tree. Just before dawn the three stars of Orion appear overhead, signifying the three hearthstones of creation where First Father was reborn as Maize, the sustenance and flesh of humanity.
In this example, water flowers decorate the crocodile canoe's belly as it sinks down into the dark waters of the spirit world. Inside are the soul of the sacrificed First Father accompanied by two attendants, who may be embodiments of his parents. Because it represents this mythic act, this blade was probably an especially powerful talisman of a living king, who became the reincarnation of First Father as he held the blade. The blade itself, bundled in textiles, was probably carried by the king into battle as the focus for his spiritual energies and as his tactical inspiration. The flinty stone connoted lightning to the Maya and was called by the same name as the bright but dangerous bolts of light that accompany life sustaining rain.
[1] For more information on the Houston flint, please see the Web Resources section on this page.
Adapted from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Eccentric flint depicting a crocodile canoe with passengers (1983.45.McD) and Eccentric flint with heads of K'awil, the god of royal lineage (2009.26)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 44-45.
- Carol Robbins, "Eccentric flint depicting a crocodile canoe with passengers (1983.45.McD)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 189.
- Carol Robbins, Label text, A. H. Meadows Galleries, 2010.
Fun Facts
- This eccentric flint, a second flint in the DMA's collection, Eccentric flint with heads of K'awil (2009.26), and a third flint now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (Ceremonial Flint with K'awiil and Two Lords in a Monster-Headed Canoe) were found together as part of cache, reportedly in Guatemala. All three were acquired from the collection of Peter Wray, Phoenix, AZ. For more information on the Houston flint, please see the Web Resources section on this page.
- The following poem is inspired by the Eccentric Flint: “Eccentric Flint” by Gene Scheer (2008): Carve away-what does not bring me closer to the sky. All that slows-the current racing towards what cannot die. The fertile dust of starlight Never quite dissolved, The bloom of endless echo Of a chord yet unresolved. Over and under, over and under, We are more than the wing we pray. Over and under, over and under, Through the waves of the Milky Way. A grammatical constellation A syntactical splash of sparks As the stars undulate the heavens Twisting into question marks. And you wonder where you’re going. Where did it all begin? Does the voyage to each destination Take me back to a place I’ve already been? Over and under, over and under, We are more than the things we pray. Over and under, over and under, Through the waves of the Milky Way.
- Called "the most astonishing image of death in Maya art," the Eccentric Flint represents an animate canoe as it dives into the Maya Underworld, Xibalba. The monster head on one end of the Flint has an upturning snout and jade noseplugs. The front foot of the Monster/Canoe terminates in a human head. On the Monster/Canoe's back ride three individuals, presumably deceased kings, whose heads are thrown back by the force of the monster's dive. The dorsal end of the Monster/Canoe is another head of a king, as indicated by the projections from the forehead of the heads, known from other imagery to be smoking axes or cigars that identify the face as God K, the First Royal Ancestor. This flint was found with two other extraordinary eccentric flints in a single cache somewhere in the Maya area. Each is too complex and too fragile to have been used as a cutting tool. Instead, they infused spirit into the monument under which they were placed. In Maya art, the image of a canoe with several supernatural passengers usually indicates a journey of deceased royalty into the Underworld. A well-known image of Lord Chocolate of Tikal being paddled into the watery depths is seen on the Incised Bones of Tikal which were deposited in the tomb of Lord Chocolate under Temple I. The DMA Eccentric Flint has been widely published (Schele and Miller, Blood of Kings, 1986; Philip Kopper, The Smithsonian Book of North American Indians, 1986; Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica, 1985) and was included in The Blood of Kings exhibition at the Kimbell Art Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art (1986).
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
- Maya, Late Classic, 600–900 C.E. (noted on TMS), updated by KJones on 09/23/13 and 06/18/14.
- Fun Facts Sources: "Eccentric flint depicting a crocodile canoe with passengers (1983.45.McD)," DMA.mobi, Dallas Museum of Art, 2012 (accessed 13 March 2015); TMS, Notes/Curatorial Remarks, 1991.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619
Maya: AAT: 300017826
Lowland Maya: AAT: 300017099
Geography
Guatemala (nation): TGN: 7005493
Process/materials
flint (rock): AAT: 300011143
carving: AAT: 300053149
chipping: AAT: 300053752
Historical periods
Classic (mesoamerican period): AAT: 300016983
Late Classic Period: AAT: 300016986
Individuals
Maize God (Hun Hunahpu / First Father / Mesoamerican and Maya deity): DMA
Subject terms
ritual objects: AAT: 300312158
ceremonial objects: AAT: 300234117
blade (tool and equipment components): AAT: 30002491
cutting (dividing): AAT: 300053069
sacrifices: AAT: 300263243
king: AAT: 300025481
rulers (people): AAT: 300025475
talismans: AAT: 300234011
tombs: AAT: 300005926
crocodile (crocodylidae family): AAT: 300250293
flower (motif): AAT: 300375563
waterlily (nymphaea genus): AAT: 300375575
dugout canoes: AAT: 300212722
paddles (watercraft equipment): AAT: 300213080
figures: AAT: 300189808
profiles (figures): AAT: 300123319
head: AAT: 300262520
creation (doctrinal concept): AAT: 300069002
myth: AAT: 300201023
reincarnation: AAT: 300073437
deities: AAT: 300343850
ancestors: AAT: 300255718
genealogies (histories): AAT: 300027015
founders (originators): AAT: 300112017
astronomy (sciences): AAT: 300054534
Gemini (zodiac symbols): AAT: 300169874
suns (stars): AAT: 300379806
stars (extraterrestrial bodies): AAT: 300387654
underworld (doctrinal concept): AAT: 300343823
cosmology (cosmological / disciplines): AAT: 300054294
tree of life (general motif / axis mundi /cosmic axis / world axis / world tree): AAT: 300312112
God K (K’awil / K'awiil / Maya deity of lightning/fire/royal lineage): DMA
Milky Way (galaxies / extraterrestrial bodies): DMA
cosmic monster (earth monster / sky monster / celestial snake / Milky Way): DMA
eccentric flint (tok' / sacrificial or ceremonial blades): DMA
wrapping (surface covering process): AAT: 300234992
textile materials: AAT: 300231565
wars: AAT: 300055314
battles: AAT: 300185692
lightning: AAT: 300068795
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1970s: Sr. Castillo, Guatemala [1]
Until 1979: Spencer Throckmorton, New York [1]
1979-1983: Peter G. Wray, Phoenix, AZ [1], [2], [3]
From 1983: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Mrs. Alex Spence, purchased from the above [3], [4], [5]
[1] The main source for this provenance is Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) Object Directory for New Acquisitions of Archaeological Material and Works of Ancient Art, 2015, https://aamd.org/object-registry/new-acquisitions-of-archaeological-material-and-works-of-ancient-art/browse (February 20, 2015). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The main source for this provenance is letter from John Lunsford to Harry S. Parker and Steven A. Nash, regarding the Peter Wray collection (dated March 23, 1983, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[3] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Record (dated June 09, 1983, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[4] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
[5] Works of art given or purchased by The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., a non-profit organization, are placed in the custody of the DMA for the purpose of public display on the premises of the Museum or in other recognized art galleries or museum. The title to all works of art purchased (or otherwise acquired) by the McDermott Art Fund remains with the Fund.
AUDIO ASSETS
- 13316227: UMO. Audio: 08/07/2012, "The Order of Days: The Mayan 2012 Phenomenon," Boshell Family Lecture Series on Archaeology; speaker is Dr. David Stuart, the foremost expert on Mayan hieroglyphs, explores the Maya’s prediction of "the end of the world in 2012." (Presented in conjunction with the exhibition The Legacy of the Plumed Serpent in Ancient Mexico.) [Note: Also listed in Maya Content Chunk].
- 13313404: UMO. 13313604: UMO. Audio: Maya Cosmos - 2/18/1993, "Maya Cosmos," 1993 Ancient Art of the New World lecture series; speaker is from the Department of Anthropology at Southern Methodist University, David Freidel. [2 files]. [Note: May relate to Eccentric Flint (1983.45.McD) and/or Lidded Bowl with peccary (1972.10.a-b)??. Also listed in Maya Content Chunk].
- 264283028: UMO. Curator Heather MacDonald discusses six works in the Museum's collection that inspired the new musical composition, A Question of Light, inspired by objects in the DMA and dedicated to Margaret McDermott, presented in partnership with the Dallas Opera, 2011; Objects include Eccentric flint (1983.45.McD); Gerald Murphy, Watch (1963.75.FA); Magritte, The Light of Coincidences (1981.9); Mondrian, Place de la Concorde (1982.22.FA); Tamayo, El Hombre (1953.22); Caillebotte, Yellow Roses in a Vase (2010.13.McD)
VIDEO ASSETS
12937062: UMO. Curator Carol Robbins discusses the eccentric flint.
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
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1983.45.McD
source file
object_notes_3_a-0802.xml.nores