Crafting Process and Usage of "Axe-God" Jade Pendants in Pre-Columbian Costa Rica
Author(s): Waka Kuboyama
Year: 2018
Summary
The "axe-god" jade pendants form the majority of Costa Rican jade artifacts. These pendants were valued for their "celt like shape" and did not function as real axes. Interestingly, some pendants do have abrasions on their axe edges. Because of that, it has been proposed that prior to being reworked into a corporal accessory, some of these pendants had been used as real axes or other tools. The "axe-god" pendants consist of two parts; the superior part with decoration of human or animals, and the inferior part presents undecorated axe. This unique shape of "axe-god" is also can be seen in gold, bone, and shell artifacts in Costa Rica. Hence, the inferior part of the axe pendants may have important symbolic meaning, and focusing on the axe part is of great significance. Both the crafting procedures and the basic form from which the pendant is shaped are closely related to the pendants usage. In this study, a digital microscope was used to analyze use-wear and crafting techniques. As a result, I show that there were several ways to elaborate the "axe-god" possibly reflecting a variety of crafting groups.
Cite this Record
Crafting Process and Usage of "Axe-God" Jade Pendants in Pre-Columbian Costa Rica. Waka Kuboyama. Presented at The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Washington, DC. 2018 ( tDAR id: 443091)
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Keywords
General
Craft Production
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Intermediate Area
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jade pendants, axe-god, Costa Rica,
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Lithic Analysis
Geographic Keywords
Central America and Northern South America
Spatial Coverage
min long: -92.153; min lat: -4.303 ; max long: -50.977; max lat: 18.313 ;
Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 22433