A Costa Rican Marble Bird Mace Head, Greater Nicoya, Period IV, ca. 300 - 500 CE Funerary & Religious Equipment The Ancestors are said to

The Ancestors are said to have turned into the goannas that now populate the deserts and other regions of Australia

2010 DACOU Gallery

with elaborate disc decorated bridle

presumably of an erotic or medicinal nature because applied to the rim are four phalloi and a further seven can be found around the shoulder of the vessel

just as the sun god was raised above the eastern horizon each morning

A Costa Rican Marble Bird Mace Head, Greater Nicoya, Period IV, ca. 300 - 500 CE Funerary & Religious Equipment The Ancestors are said toCarved 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