Mysterious Gift to the Gods Found in Mexico

A mysterious corncob-shaped artefact, dating to somewhere between 900 B.C. and 400 B.C., has been discovered underwater at the site of Arroyo Pesquero in Veracruz, Mexico.

Made of jadeite, a material that is harder than steel, the artefact has designs on it that are difficult to put into words. It contains rectangular shapes, engraved lines and a cone that looks like it is emerging from the top. It looks like a corncob in an abstract way archaeologists say.

It's an "extraordinary and unusual archaeological specimen made of mottled brown-and-white jadeite," the team wrote in an article published recently in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica. Jack Hunter, a diver with the Arroyo Pesquero archaeological project, discovered the artefact in 2012 while diving with Jeffery Delsescaux about 2 to 3 meters below the surface of a deep stream.

"Underwater conditions were particularly challenging and included near-zero visibility and many obstructions, including large logs, smaller debris, partially decomposed leaves and other vegetation," the team wrote.

The artefact dates to a time when a civilization now called the Olmec flourished in the area. The Olmec people built stone statues of giant human heads and constructed a city now called "La Venta" about 16 kilometres northeast of Arroyo Pesquero. The city, which may have supported some 10,000 people, contained a 34 metre pyramid.

The artefact, which measures 8.7 centimetres high by 2.5 centimetres wide at its widest point, is tricky to decipher.

"The iconography is pretty difficult to interpret; it's definitely not clear," said Carl Wendt, a professor at California State University, Fullerton who is directing the project. "It seems to be an abstract representation, I believe, of a cob of corn," he said. Corn, along with beans and squash, was an important part of the diet for people in ancient Mesoamerica