Choker with Nineteen Death Heads

Exploring the Early Americas The Jay I. Kislak Collection

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

Mexico. Mixtec, AD 1200–1500.
Carved shell.
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division (66)

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This choker’s beads consist of nineteen nearly identical skulls carved from conch shells. The deeply carved eye sockets may have originally held hematite inlays. Young nobles who were being schooled in religion and military arts wore such necklaces throughout the Central Mexican Highlands.