2-580-882 - © CM Dixon/Heritage Images

Sacrificial knife, Aztec/Mixtec, Mexico, 15th-16th century. The handle is carved in wood and covered with mosaic of turquoise, shell and malachite. The blade is made of chalcedony. The figure is an eagle warrior, a member of a prestigious order of Aztec warriors. According to myth, the principal god Huitzilopochtli asked the Aztecs to found their city at the place where they saw an eagle perched upon a cactus. This became Tenochtitlan. From the British Museum.