![]() ![]() 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. ![]() Common household razor blade edges are 100 times thicker than the edge of struck obsidian! It’s no wonder that obsidian became a valuable tool in medicine and warfare when you consider that an obsidian flaked edge is sharper than any other known substance. Obsidian flakes to 15 times sharper than surgical steel. Because of its sharpness, obsidian leaves less of a scar and causes less tissue damage compared to a steel scalpel. 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. As the core became used up, the blades began showing a curve in the end as the base of the core became smaller and more tapered. The core was turned around and blades were struck off around the entire circumference of the standing core. The top was hit downward to flake off long, rectangular strips of the stone. The blades were struck from a carefully prepared blade core stood on its end. Caution must be applied in acquiring ancient obsidian artifacts because the stone does not patinate on the surface like other lithic types.Ĭore-struck obsidian prismatic blades were a hallmark industry of the Aztecs. Mineral encrustations and sediment can be seen deep in flake scars which are indicators ONLY found in AUTHENTIC specimens such as this. They believed obsidian, like everything in nature, had a spirit. Aztec noble classes wore obsidian jewelry and Aztec priests polished obsidian to a mirror-like sheen and claimed to divine the future with it. Obsidian was prized for its unique sharp edge when knapped. This can be seen in the completely knapped ends versus a cleanly broken end. Both are complete, not fragments or partial blades as usually offered. These were made by first striking a long prismatic blade from a prepared core, and then further working the edges with steep secondary retouching to create the sharp, heavy cutting edges. Blade scrapers were used for a variety of tasks. They were made by the Pre-Columb ian Aztec Indians of Central America. This set comprises two superb scrapers made on core-struck prismatic blad es of black obsidian. ![]()
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