09 · Green stone · Mesoamerican networks

Motagua jade

An axe that never struck, transformed into a maize sprout

Jadeite from the Motagua valley travelled long distances and required much work to carve and polish.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Specific historical recreation of An unhacked axe turned into a maize sprout, Mesoamerica; Motagua basin jadeite, Guatemala, c. 900–600 BCE — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · EXISTING EDITORIAL RESOURCE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction for museographic context; it is not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

**DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · EXISTING EDITORIAL RESOURCE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction for museographic context; it is not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

Jadeite came from the Motagua valley, in present-day Guatemala, and required prolonged abrasion, drilling and polishing. A large celt could retain the silhouette of a tool, although its edge and delicate design set it apart from everyday work.

In the Met piece, a supernatural profile and a sprout emerge from the upper cleft. The reading links green stone, maize and renewal; when these celts were buried, the image of a mineral seed gained strength without needing to be seen.

The celt form preserves the memory of a tool, but the polishing, drilling and incision shift this piece into the ceremonial realm. Its surface turned an extremely hard material into a support for a supernatural silhouette and a sprout emerging from the cleft.

Jadeite geologically originates from the Motagua basin, far from the great Gulf centres. Between quarry and deposit, multiple communities could have intervened; the material route demonstrates long-distance connection without revealing a single caravan or Olmec control over the source.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: Olmec jadeite was imported over long distances, and the Met celt dates to 900–600 BCE, with incised motifs that specialists associate with maize. Interpretation and caution: “maize god” is an identification based on iconographic comparison; we do not know the Olmec name or have a translation of the signs. Additional documented evidence: the Met celt, dated c. 900–600 BCE, is carved from imported jadeite and bears incised motifs compared with maize and transformation. Further interpretation and caution: “maize god” is a retrospective iconographic identification; it does not provide the being’s Olmec name or a translation of the image.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: c. 900–600 BCE
Location: Mesoamerica; Motagua basin jadeite, Guatemala
Material: Carved, drilled and polished jadeite
Context: Long-distance exchange and agricultural symbolism
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Evidence: Archaeological context, materiality and chronology.
Caution: Do not convert stylistic diffusion or contact into political domination.
Documentary coverage: 4 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

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c. 900–600 BCE

Motagua jade

Maya worlds

Approximate dating according to the record.

Current record

Greenstone8 dated objects

5 / 8In the centre: Motagua jade

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Stone carving

Nahal Hemar Knives · 8th millennium BCE · Pre-Pottery Neolithic B context · Prehistory
Nahal Hemar mask · Eighth millennium BCE · context dating, not direct dating of the stone · Prehistory
Warka Mask · End of the 4th millennium BCE · Sumer
Head 2 · c. 1200–900 BCE · Maya worlds
Before the Scythians and Sakas · Final Bronze–Initial Iron, ca. 1200–600 BCE · Scythians and Saka
The invisible mosaic · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Motagua jade · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing
The Lanzón · c. 900–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures

Engraving

Engraved ochre from Blombos · ≈77,000–75,000 years · Prehistory
Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Rondelle de Mas-d'Azil · ≈18,000–16,000 years · Prehistory
Lamp from La Mouthe · ≈20,500–13,000 years · Magdalenian framework · Prehistory
Engraved stone from Çakmaktepe · PPNA · site proposal: ≈9600–8800 BCE, provisional · Prehistory
Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or · Early Neolithic · VI–V millennia BCE · Prehistory
Before Nubia · V–IV millennium BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Gojoseon · Middle Neolithic, c. 4000 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Cylinder seal · c. 3500–3100 BCE · Sumer
Guadancil idol-plaque · 3750–2500 cal BCE · Iberians
Staff of Anta 4 · Late 4th–first half of the 3rd millennium BCE. · Prehistory
Linear A · c. 1700–1500 BCE · Greek worlds
The Cascajal Block · Proposed c. 1000–900 BCE · Maya worlds
Las Limas · c. 1000–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Motagua jade · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing
The Tello Obelisk · c. 800–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Twenty-six voiceless signs · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
The Raimondi Stele · c. 400–200 BCE according to MNAAHP · Pre-Inca cultures
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Urewe vessel · regional range c. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Lukasa · 19th–20th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Mythical narratives

Sumerian Flood of Nippur · Towards 1650 BCE · Sumer
Motagua jade · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing
Flood Tablet · 7th century BCE · Sumer
Orpheus among the Thracians · circa 440 BCE; attributed to the London Painter E 497. · Thracians
Derveni Papyrus · copy conserved towards 340–320 BCE; comments on a previous text. · Thracians
The walls of San Bartolo · c. 100 BCE · Maya worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Zalmoxis · testimony of Herodotus, 5th century BCE; no biographical date of the divinity. · Thracians

Exchange and trade

Weights · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Before the Hittites · c. 19th century BCE · Hittites
Kerma vessel · c. 1802–1640 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Ivory in Nimrud · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Motagua jade · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds — You are viewing
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Iberians
The Gallery of the Conch Shells · Main use c. 800–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Mazarrón 1 · Second half of the 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
Mazarrón 2 · Second half of the 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
Ivory with names · End of the 7th century–first half of the 6th century BCE · Phoenicians
The inscription of Pistiros · 4th century BCE · Thracians
Yan knife-money in the Gojoseon sphere · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Ancient China
Lead tablet · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
A coin with the memory of a blade · 323–222 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Ceramics that continued · Last third of the 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians
Roman glass oinochoe · Late 1st century BCE–early 1st century CE · Etruscans and Rome
Moulds for gold · 9th–11th centuries CE · Mande Worlds
Missing grave goods · 13th–15th centuries according to the heritage overview · Bantu-speaking worlds
Catalan Atlas · after 1375 and before November 1380 · Mande Worlds
Kilwa coin · 1482–1493 · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A Kerma vessel deposited at Abydos · Second Intermediate Period · Ancient Egypt
Akrotiri · c. 1700–1500 BCE · Greek worlds
Clicks and contact · precolonial contacts with varying chronologies and subsequent continuity · Bantu-speaking worlds
Dia’s strata · 9th century BCE–2nd millennium CE · Mande Worlds
Indian Ocean Kiswahili · from the first millennium CE; major development in medieval and modern times · Bantu-speaking worlds
Jenne-jeno contexts · ca. 250 BCE–1400 CE · Mande Worlds
Kumbi Saleh · medieval occupation; prominent phases between the 11th and 13th centuries · Mande Worlds
Lothal · ca. 2400–1600 BCE · Indus civilisation
Meluhha · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Nile towards Nubia · ca. 3300–2800 BCE · Ancient Egypt
The Banquet of Seuthes II · Towards 400 BCE. Anabasis episode · Thracians
Travelling objects · Mainly Roman period · Garamantes

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

From broken edge to pendant

The current Met label identifies the piece as a celt modified to become a pendant. Its edge was dulled in antiquity and a later perforation allowed it to be suspended from a belt set. Among the incisions appears a hand separated from the body, with a knot at the wrist and details such as the thumbnail. The transformation adds a material biography to the maize motif: the object did not necessarily have a single function. Its possible graphic value is discussed by comparison, but it does not allow reading the hand as a known Olmec word.

Museum · The Met · Modified celt-pendant with incised motifsAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Where it is held

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Item or group in the record · Documented collection

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

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Motagua jade

History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Objects connected through time

Motagua jade

Fu Hao’s burial goods

The Cascajal Block

Las Limas

The invisible mosaic

Motagua jade

Offering 4

La Venta grave goods

Pakal’s grave goods

A closer look

From broken edge to pendant

Where it is held

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sources and references

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