Rights management: Linden-Museum Stuttgart
Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivs 4.0 International
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This collection item does not have a name in the language of origin. If you know the name or have comments, use this form to contact the data-providing institution.
Bone flute, engraved
This flute made from a human thigh bone is decorated with an incised decoration showing two dancing persons. One of them is an eagle warrior, the other embodies a deity that has not yet been identified. The identification as a human femur bone - for which we thank Dr. Michael Francken of the Institute for Scientific Archaeology, Dept. of Palaeoanthropology at the University of Tübingen - also revealed that the bone is deformed by lifelong hard, physical work. Music was – and still is – an indispensable part of rituals in Mesoamerica. Bone flutes, especially those made from the thigh bones of deer and humans, were played on important occasions as they were associated with continuity and fertility. Successful warriors kept the thigh bones of their executed prisoners as a sign of their military prowess. They were also used, together with skulls, to make scraper instruments, also called ratchets. This special sound was believed to establish contact with the ancestors. Text: Dr Martin Berger, Leiden.
- Data Provider
- Linden-Museum Stuttgart Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde Show original at data provider
Cataloguing data
- Cultural attribution
- Azteken-Kultur
- Object type
- Musikinstrument
- Dimensions
- Length: 26.7 cm
- Material/Technique
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Human thigh bone
carved
- Current location
- Linden-Museum Stuttgart
- Inventory number
- M 31956 L
Provenance and sources
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Assignment to a curated holding:
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Production
-
when
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between 1328 and 1415 AD.
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-
Change of physical control or legal title
-
where
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Mexico
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Change of physical control
-
when
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1984
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- Provenance
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This object does not have a confirmed provenance.
Information about the record
- Legal status metadata
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED
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