boy howdy, I have no idea

[unclemac]

ok, this piece of jade was unearthed in 1952 during the construction of the Pan American highway in El Salvador. it is about 4 inches long and concave, highly polished blue jade, with 4 conical hand drilled holes. Any ideas are very welcome!

 

[russau]

No doubt about it ! This would go in to the bag as a keeper !

 

[ToddsPoint]

Beautiful artifact. No idea what it’s for with perforations. When you get into So Mexico and Central America you see some bizarre stuff. It’s too bad there’s no jade in the Midwest. I’m sure they would have used it. This is a jade celt from Honduras. A friend stationed there in the army found it there and gave it to me. He brought back several.

 

[russau]

Now that is a NICE FRIEND for sure !

 

[opalboy]

Could be the center piece of a necklace.

 

[unclemac]

but how? It is not symmetrical and has a purposeful concave side... all edges are smooth and rounded too.

 

[unclemac]

so this is what I found out! anyway, this thing came from an archeologist doing survey work in El Salvador in 1952 during the construction of the Pan American highway... He had no idea what it was but it was polished blue jade with conical stone drilled holes. So... I searched around for someone who might know and was connected with a fellow with the national anthropology institute in Mexico City.... long story short he identified it as a ceremonial Olmec "spoon" around 2,000 years old, from the Motagua region Guatemala/El Salvador, made of, iconic for the region, blue jade. It was made to be worn as a pendant by a shaman and used to scoop and snort hallucinogens... The WWW is a awesome tool to connect questions with experts.... It took me all of 2 days to find all this out.

 

[russau]

Very interesting item !