A Costa Rican Marble Bird Mace Head, Greater Nicoya, Period IV, ca. 300 - 500 CE Funerary & Religious Equipment and a cheerful smile

and a cheerful smile

larger than the others

first published in 1969

Medium: Gold-tone

A Costa Rican Marble Bird Mace Head, Greater Nicoya, Period IV, ca. 300 - 500 CE Funerary & Religious Equipment and a cheerful smileCarved from smooth white marble, the round body with a stylized bird head featuring an elongated beak gently carved to indicate a mouth and a raised double head crest along the top of the head. Used as a symbolic object rather than a functional one, mace heads of this type occur in many different materials, sizes, and subjects. Found in most high status graves, mace heads most probably served as identifiers of the person's clan or family through a