These objects were widely used in all Mayan lands, from the Preclassic to the Postclassic periods; they were carved in many different ways. Núñez has identified 54 different forms of eccentrics; sometimes the profiles show faces of figures representing gods or ancestors. 1
In other cases they could be a double lancet that was used as an arrowhead on the shafts of spears; they were also designed with triple spurs, also known as trilobal, and usually appear in rituals and magical contexts in representations of classic vessels.
This piece was designed with a handle and central serrated pointed spur. All these instruments, carved with such varied forms, are known by the name of eccentrics. Their usefulness has been much debated, as some authors consider they are tools that are too fragile to be used in battles as weapons; despite their forms, they are sharp artifacts that penetrate into the body and turning them would produce a very effective and perhaps mortal cut.
A large number of them have been located archaeologically in ceremonial contexts, which means that they, at least at some point, were used as ritual objects. In other cases they could have been used as a tool of torture, as seen in the painted images of the classic vessel K2286.
1. Schele y Miller, The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art, 73.
References:
Andrieu, Chloé. Outils mayas, distribution et production du silex et de l’obsidienne dans les Basses Terres. Tesis doctoral, Université Paris-Ouest Nanterre-La Défense, 2009.
Núñez Regueiro, Paz. Les excentriques mayas, étude comparative du matériel lithique et inconographique, Mémoire de DEA. Université Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne, UFR Histoire de l’Art et Archéologie, 2005.
Schele, Linda y Mary Ellen Miller. The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. Nueva York: George Braziller y Kimbell Art Museum Fort Worth, 1986.
