The Olmec and the Maya wore jade or jadeite beads, necklaces, and ear spools. The Maya elite placed a jade bead in the mouths of their dead as a sign of rebirth. The quadrapartite design represents the four cardinal directions and the hole the fifth direction or the Axis Mundi.
Subject
[Jewelry--Guatemala, Decoration and ornament--Guatemala, Stone carving--Guatemala, Maya art--Guatemala, Mayas--Antiquities, Indigenous peoples--Antiquities]