Exploring the Early Americas

The Jay I. Kislak Collection

{ object_type: 'Exhibit Item',embed_type: 'image',embed_detail: 'http://myloc.gov/_assets/Exhibitions/EarlyAmericas/ExplorationsandEncounters/ColumbusandtheTaino/Assets/object56_t_125.jpg',embed_alt: 'Spatula Used for Purging',thumbnail: {url: 'http://myloc.gov/_assets/Exhibitions/EarlyAmericas/ExplorationsandEncounters/ColumbusandtheTaino/Assets/object56_t_125.jpg',alt: 'Spatula Used for Purging',height: '66',width: '125'} }

See Silverlight version of this item » About this item        

This long, gracefully curved spatula was used for purging before taking the sacred trance-inducing cohoba, a powerful snuff of nicotine-rich tobacco. The earlobes and eye sockets once held inlays, perhaps of gold leaf or shell.
This long, gracefully curved spatula was used for purging before taking the sacred trance-inducing cohoba, a powerful snuff of nicotine-rich tobacco. The earlobes and eye sockets once held inlays, perhaps of gold leaf or shell.