Guatemala & Southern Mexico
Maya

Pottery
ca. 550 to 900 CE
Height: 3.5 in
Aerophones – Wind Instruments Proper – Edge-blown Flutes

A pre-Columbian whistle depicting a standing Maya lord or dignitary in full regalia, wearing an elaborate headdress. The whistle in back is missing. The Mayans were known to be the only Mesoamerican civilization to develop an advanced form of writing (codices – hieroglyphic script), which relates to cosmogony (science that deals with the origin of the universe, in particular the solar system).