Eccentric flint (archaeology)

An eccentric flint is an elite chipped artifact of an often irregular ('eccentric') shape produced by the Classic Maya civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. Although generally referred to as "flints", they were typically fashioned from chert, chalcedony and obsidian.

Eccentric flints were first categorised by western archaeologists in Belize in the first half of the 20th century, when they were identified as ceremonial in nature. The objects are generally found in the eastern portion of the central Maya area, in the Petén Department of Guatemala and in neighbouring Belize, with few in the west and the Yucatán Peninsula. Very few have been recovered from the Guatemalan Highlands and it is unlikely they were ever manufactured there. Small obsidian eccentrics have been found at the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico.

Eccentric flints are among the finest lithic artifacts produced by the ancient Maya. They were technically very challenging to produce, requiring considerable skill on the part of the artisan. Large obsidian eccentrics can measure over 30 centimetres (12 in) in length. Their actual form varies considerably but they generally depict human, animal and geometric forms associated with Maya religion.

Most examples of eccentric flints have been recovered from caches interred under Maya monuments and buildings. Thus, a cache under the altar of Copan's stela M, at the foot of the Hieroglyphic Stairway, rendered three identical eccentric flints, each shaped like a human figure extending into a tang and evincing six human head outgrowths. Nine eccentric flints with human figures found in an early Copan temple room (temple 16, Rosalila phase), and originally wrapped in a deep blue cloth, show similar tangs. The presence of these tangs suggests that the examples concerned may originally have been set into a shaft or handle, possibly as the head of a sceptre, or as the blade of an axe. Some flint eccentrics were unsuitable for wearing or carrying and they may have been sculpted specifically to be buried as an offering.

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