This was just too weird not to share.
Incan ritual dagger-shovel, known as a Tumi, that was used to a) pry open/crack open ribs, b) shovel out innards. Obviously, the one pictured here (from Wikipedia) is a recreation (P E R U) but it’s still disturbing.
The godlings on top of the tumi are named after the hero Tumi, aka Ñaylamp, who was sired by the mythic bird creature Ñaylamp and sprouted wings and turned into a bird. This is why if you look closely, you can see the eyes on the tumi are shaped like birds. The hands always seem to be folded in front, too. I didn’t see anything saying why, but to me it looks like the guy’s going, “Please, sir, can I have some more?”
I need to come up with a story for this. Tumi, son of Tumi, whose eyes were made of birds and who, upon his death, became Tumi again. We worship him now by cutting out the tumis of sacrifices with this sacred shovel, whose bird-eyes aske pitifully for more, more, more…
I should probably do more research, though.
Incidentally, if you were possessed by demons or otherwise crazy, they might just take the sacrifice shovel and trepanne your brain with it, too.
Scoop…scoop…scoop…