Macehead in shape of skull

This macehead of pale, mottled jade depicts a trophy human head, its skin probably flayed off to look like a skull. It is a high-status object, a ceremonial symbol of power - typically found in chiefly graves. Jade was a precious, sacred material.

The macehead is carved from a block of pale jade, and it would have been mounted on a wooden shaft for display. The features are human, but only partly recognisable, with stylised eyes, mouth and ears.

The taking of trophy heads during warfare, and the ritual decapitation of sacrificial victims, were practised in Costa Rica from the first few centuries AD until the Spanish Conquest in the 1500s.

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