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Exploring the Early Americas The Jay I. Kislak Collection
Miniature Flasks (29)

Painted miniature flasks.
Guatemalan Lowlands. Maya, AD 600–900.
Red and brown-black-on-cream ceramics.
Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (29)
Photo ©Justin Kerr, Kerr Associates

Miniature Flasks 

Midwives may have used flasks like these for healing and birthing rituals. Several flasks in the Kislak Collection are inscribed with the words “homes for may,” the traditional native tobacco and lime mixtures used for medicinal and ritual purposes.