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A Copper Ornament and a Stone Mask from Middle America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J. Eric S. Thompson
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Abstract

A small mask cast in copper with the features of a Maya merchant god supplies the first incontrovertible evidence that the Maya cast copper. As it has been in the British Museum for nearly a century, its authenticity cannot be doubted. One detail makes it virtually certain that the piece was cast in the lowlands. A large stone mask, collected in Mexico over 50 years ago, can be assigned with some confidence (despite previous doubts as to its authenticity) to southern Veracruz. It reveals attenuated Olmec influence and also has attributes of a merchant god.

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , January 1965 , pp. 343 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1965

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References

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