Has any one ever heard of Mayan coins depicting pictograms and activities even including human sacrifice! I have a friend currently in Guatemala who finds these being sold as ancient Mayan Coins from his scans the coins are thick, perfectly round and most certainly cast. No useful scans yet, I will post any that I can get. My friend thinks he has found something great. Thanks Fred
Would be interested to see these, but definitely a modern concoction targeting tourists. Most Indigenous American societies did not have monetary-based economies. The only exception I know of is the Aztecs used "axe money", small copper representations of axe-heads (that were not actually useful as axes, and thus had symbolic, rather than practical, value), kind of similar to ancient Chinese "knife money" and "spade money" in representing useful objects of agreed value. These were apparently used during the Aztec period, and continued into the early Spanish colonial era; they are seldom seen on the market. But what your friend describes are clearly not this.
Further than not having coins, ancient Mayans didn't have metallurgy. They used obsidian swords and tools.
Finally have some scans to share with you. The coins are about 1.5 inches in diameter, they are not silver and donot leave marks on paper so I think that rules out any lead content. Some of the legends use the western alphabet which makes me think these are tourist trap items.
Forgot to mention that all these look cast to me. I have never seen one in real life, just in scans. Thanks , Fred
