The success and rise of the Aztec empire was largely attributed to their dominance through intimidation of their surrounding neighbors from whom they extracted resources from. Today, we classify their reign as occupying the Late Post Classic Period from 1250 - 1521 A.D. With a population that grew to an estimated 200,000 people (three times the largest city of Spain at the time!) this became the center of the most powerful and militaristic empire of Mesoamerica - home of the Aztecs. This marsh, Lake Texcoco, would later become a vast canal-laced highly advanced, super city of stone pyramids and temples known as Tenochtitlan. They next day they witnessed an eagle resting on a prickly pear cactus which they interpreted to be the sign they were hoping for. Their god Huitzilopochtli consoled them that evening and said he would end their wandering and told them to look for a sign that he will give them that will signify their new homeland which will be "the place of the cactus and the eagle I now name Tenochtitlan". In around 1325 A.D., as they were fleeing an altercation with the Culhuacans, they were driven to a marsh. During their migration, Huitzilopochtli gave a message to his people that their new identity would no longer be known as Azteca but as Mexica. As they migrated south, every indigenous Indian tribe they encountered along the way abhorred the Azteca, as they were known, as they were reviled and scorned for their violent and barbaric ways. Their god called upon them for his insatiable thirst for human blood and sacrifice. The Aztecas believed they were guided by a blood-thirsty deity they called Huitzilopochtli who communicated to them through four priest-chieftains called teomama. The exact location of this region is not known but other than it was northwest of present-day Mexico City, the former center of the Aztec empire, but how far, it is a mystery. emerging from their former homeland called Aztlan or "place of the herons", an island in a lake where men went out to fish from boats. Aztec codices record that they began their wandering journey in 1100 A.D. The origin of the Aztec (Azteca) Empire is legendary. Colonial era codices exist in greater number with roughly 500 separate codices known, showing extensive pictograms as well as being written in Spanish, Latin and in the original Nahuatl language. These codices were created by the Aztecs in pictorial form, as well as by other indigenous tribal sources, all of which had no written language. An extensive and detailed collection of written and pictorial records exist for us today called CODICES (CODEX if singular) were produced before Spanish contact by the native tribes themselves, and afterwards during the Colonial period. While many ancient civilizations remain a mystery, little can be left to conjecture when it comes to the details of the Aztec way of life. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to complete a collection. NO REPAIR, RESTORATION OR MODERN MODIFICATION. Caution must be applied in acquiring ancient obsidian artifacts because the stone does not patinate on the surface like other lithic types. Mineral and sediment can be seen deep in flake scars which are indicators ONLY found in AUTHENTIC specimens such as these. All are complete AS MADE, not fragments as are most often offered. These remarkable blade tools are supreme examples of core-struck obsidian industry and tools of the Aztec Culture. Because of its sharpness, obsidian leaves less of a scar and does less tissue damage than a scalpel or knife made of any other substance known to Man. As a matter of fact, aside from using lasers in modern surgery, the preferred scalpel is one from obsidian.
Obsidian was prized by the ancient Pre-Columbian Indians and even today, it is still used in modern medicine for scalpel blades as obsidian can flake to an edge one molecule thick, thereby attaining a level of sharpness impossible to achieve with a steel scalpel. What is more impressive is that these are COMPLETE and the super delicate point of the scalpel is AS MADE and perfect! You can tell these are not broken fragments by their length and more importantly, the fact that both ends show evidence of being struck clean from a core.
The pointed scalpel blade would have required expert preparation of the blade core so that when struck, the blades that come off have points because of the tapering of the core base and careful control of how the core was struck. Here, we have two superb examples with one that is a SUPER RARE SCALPEL and the other, a prismatic blade showing extensive use and re-use as well as heavy mineral deposits. INCLUDES DISPLAY BOX Comes with a certificate ofįinding Pre-Columbian prismatic obsidian blades in a COMPLETE UNBROKEN state is VERY RARE.