Coiled Stone Rattlesnake With Day Sign

Exploring the Early Americas The Jay I. Kislak Collection

Pre-Contact America | Explorations and Encounters | Aftermath of the Encounter

Urban Landscapes | Ritual, Ceremonies, and Celebrations | Language and Context | Recording History | The Heavens and Time

Coiled Stone Rattlesnake With Day Sign (side)

Central Mexican Highlands. Aztec, AD 1400-1521.
Gray volcanic basalt.
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (44)
Photo ©Justin Kerr, Kerr Associates

Additional Images

Coiled Stone Rattlesnake With Day Sign (side)

Coiled Stone Rattlesnake With Day Sign (bottom)

The Aztecs excelled in carving tightly coiled serpent sculptures from fine-grained stone. In such sculptures, the tall stacked coils are carefully cross-hatched for the scales, and the rattle tail is tucked at the base. Many of the sculptures have additional symbolic icons carved on their bases. On the flat bottom of this sculpture is a realistic long-eared rabbit image next to a dotted circle representing the numeral one. Rabbit is the eighth of the twenty Aztec day signs.