Three-headed censer consisting of a low, biconical base, with a horizontal molding on the inner edge, on which the anthropomorphic heads of old characters are placed facing outwards, and with the same distance of each other.

All three have protruding lips (or perhaps long-beaked masks), wear round earflares painted in white and yellow, and appear to have beards. A plate placed on top, like a comal, completes the set.

“This type of censer is characterized by having three heads attached to the edge of the main bowl, making up the censer. They have been reported in Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras… The tradition of the three-headed censers dates back to the Late Preclassic period in the Guatemalan highlands. It is at the site of Kaminaljuyú where the oldest examples of this type have been found, thus assigning it as their place of origin. Vessels with similar characteristics appear later in Teotihuacán too, where they predominate during the Early and Late Classic. During the Late Classic is when these censers appear in more sites and regions. In central Mexico they appear in other sites such as Santiago Ahuizotla and in the Gulf of Mexico, in Cerro de las Mesas and Tres Zapotes. During this same period, three-headed censers appear on the South Coast of Guatemala in important sites such as Bilbao and El Baúl” (Pereira Figueroa, 2004: 2).

Total height: 28.6 cm

Height”a” bowl: 24.5 cm
Diameter:”a”” 42 cm

Height “b” comal: 6.5 cm
Diameter:”b”: 36 cm

* Pereira Figueroa, Karen. 2004. “The three-headed censers in Escuintla, Guatemala.” Research work presented to qualify for the academic degree of Bachelor of Archeology. Department of Archeology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. Guatemala. pp. 208

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