The sculpture depicts a ritual involving blood-letting by a queen.

Evidence

It is a limestone relief carving, about the size of a small coffee table. It’s rectangular and it shows two human figures. A man stands holding a blazing torch over the kneeling figure of a woman. Both are elaborately costumed, with wonderfully extravagant headdresses. So far, so innocuous. But when you look more closely at the woman the scene becomes horribly disconcerting, because you can see that she is pulling a rope through her tongue – and the rope contains large thorns which are piercing and lacerating her. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 803

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 803
• XREF: connects to: Ritual blood-letting produces pain that leads to visionary experiences. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 809

Broader Connections

• Ritual blood-letting produces pain that leads to visionary experiences. #expands (0.75) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 809