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The Aberdeen Celt: an early twentieth-century Olmec find

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2019

Norman Hammond  and
Karl Taube
Norman Hammond*
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK
Karl Taube
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521-0418, USA
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: ndch@bu.edu)
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Abstract

The distinctive character of Olmec art and culture within the wider Mesoamerican tradition was only fully recognised in the twentieth century. The authenticity and significance of several aspects of Olmec workmanship and imagery, however, remain the subject of debate. Here, the authors report on an incised stone celt (axe) from southern Mexico, which bears imagery relating it to the Middle Preclassic Olmec of the earlier first millennium BC. The image is interpreted as a Mesoamerican maize deity grasping a corn ear fetish. Originally discovered in 1910, its early date makes the object valuable for confirming debated aspects of Olmec art and culture.

Keywords

MesoamericaOlmecmaize deitysymbolism
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 368 , April 2019 , pp. 488 - 501
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

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