PreColombian

[jimb]

Do you remember a few years ago when I said that I have several pre Colombian heads that were used in gardens to make the crops grow better? Yesterday while rearranging the furniture I found a few on a book shelf that I hardly visit. Except for one they were all brought here many many years ago and are legal. The other one I actually found while metal detecting! No it is not metal! Most are carved from stone. But the one other is clay. While digging a target this one was in the ground. It was just a ball of clay but I thought it had a strange shape and kept it. I put it in a large gallon jug with my coins and several years later discovered that it cracked open to reveal the head. By then I could not remember the exact spot where I dug it up.

 

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[Tnmountains]

Toltec?? Where did you find them? Very nice finds.Maybe joshua will cime in our south of the border guy : )

 

[jimb]

I got all but the one I found detecting, from a friend who is a long time collector. His collection is so vast that the Smithsonion wanted to buy it.

 

[Cappy Z.]

I got all but the one I found detecting, from a friend who is a long time collector. His collection is so vast that the Smithsonion wanted to buy it.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Tnmountains]

I got all but the one I found detecting, from a friend who is a long time collector. His collection is so vast that the Smithsonion wanted to buy it.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I think the smithsonian has enough things stored already.

 

[*Molly*]

I got all but the one I found detecting, from a friend who is a long time collector. His collection is so vast that the Smithsonion wanted to buy it.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I think the smithsonian has enough things stored already.

Amen to that..

 

[jimb]

Yes, but you have not seen his collection! It would make you drool! And he did not sell!

 

[joshuaream]

The heads your friend gave you are probably from around Tlatilco site outside Mexico City. They were pretty common tourist items back in the day (and they still are.) The site was discoved because locals would mine clay for making bricks and tiles that were famous across central Mexico because they were like stone (your heads are also probably clay, but look and feel like stone.)

That head you found looks pre-colombian, but it doesn't really match up to anything I recognize (which doesn't mean a whole lot.) There are two options, first it is an item that someone brought back and lost, or option 2, it was made by a local indian group. I'd probably go with the first option, but I wouldn't have a clue where it came from. The earspools look like they could come from Teotihuacan, but the mask and head dress don't match. The mask could be an effigy of Xipe Totec (spelling?), an aztec god who wore the skin of human. (They would actually skin a human and a priest would wear it during his ceremonies.)

Neat little pieces.

Joshua