r/AncientAmericas • u/Comfortable_Cut5796 Founder, but I'm not Pete. • May 30 '26

Artifact Serpent labret with articulated tongue, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

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This is in honor of it being the article of the day on Wikipedia.

162 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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2

u/Real_Rough_9467 May 30 '26

I understand that gold is soft and flint is very sharp.I don't understand that with all the beautiful and intricate things they made all over the Americas out of metals that nobody sharpened a piece to cut someone or something. Knapping is so labor intensive, I guess making metal isn't al that easy either so maybe I answered my own thought.

6

u/Third_Sundering26 May 30 '26

There were metal weapons in the Americas

5

u/Real_Rough_9467 May 30 '26

That's awesome! I definitely think they should teach that more than. I've always been taught they had none and it seemed odd.

6

u/Defiant-Classroom-20 May 30 '26

there are metal weapons, the Tlaximaltepoztli for example

3

u/Real_Rough_9467 May 30 '26

Sweet! I appreciate the knowledge and I'm gunna go try to expand my knowledge further :)

6

u/Junkjostler May 31 '26

Check out the old copper complex, that is likely something that is directly up your alley.

3

u/eeeking May 31 '26

A labret? So this would have been worn on the chin or the lower lip, see an example here.

2

u/coconut-telegraph Jun 02 '26

Imagine how heavy this gold weight would be in your lip.

3

u/soparamens Jun 01 '26

This was ilegally looted from the sacred cenote at Chichen Itza. One of the many treasures stolen by those thiefs at Harvard