Mesoamerican
Costa RicaSpoon, 600 - 900 CE
Not on view
Jade
Dimensions7 1/8 × 3 1/4 × 1/2 in. (18.1 × 8.3 × 1.3 cm)
Gift of Barry Fitzmorris, 2011.213
This Mesoamerican jade spoon may have been used to hold hallucinogenic snuff—ground tobacco—taken to induce a trance-like state that was important during transformation rituals or other shamanistic ceremonies. It could have also served as a receptacle for blood drawn during sacrificial rites performed by the elite to honor their ancestors, appease the gods, or guarantee the fertility of the earth.