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South America - Colombia
Caribbean Coast Gold
Sinú, Uraba & Choco
Gold & Metals Exhibit |
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Sinú Gold Objects |
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From 200 B.C. onwards,
agricultural chieftainships built a canal system that was to control
floodwater on the hot Caribbean plains for the next 1,300 years. The web or
weave metaphor was present in the drainage channel network, fishing nets,
pottery, and the goldwork that was made of alloys rich in gold. Water birds,
alligators, fish, feline figures and deer were both sources of food and
essential elements of their symbolic thought.
The deceased
were buried with clay figures of women and covered with tumuli on which
trees were planted, and bells were hung from the branches of these trees.
The roundness of the tumuli and breastplates signified gestation and
rebirth.
Between 1100
A.D. and the Conquest, the Zenúes retreated to the high grasslands and the
Sinú valley, while related groups occupied the Serranía de San Jacinto and
the banks of the Magdalena. The goldsmiths of the Serranía de San Jacinto
made objects for mass use out of alloys that were rich in copper: ear rings,
pendants with richly-attired persons, and amphibian-men. |
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Sinu Owl Design Cast Gold Staff Head
Metropolitan Museum
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Avian Staff Head
Sinú
Colombia
5th-10th Century
click photos
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Staff Heads,
like those shown from Colombia, are believed to be emblems of prestige and power.
You can see that bird-forms were frequently used.
In several,
you can see Toucan. The Toucan had special significance in Pre-columbian
America. The Toucan was both an intelligent bird, and also a
trickster.
Bird-form
pendants are found throughout southern Mesoamerica and into South America, and are perhaps the most typical metal artifacts of the region.
Christopher
Columbus was the first European to name these objects "eagle pendants" when
he saw them being worn by the peoples of the eastern coastal region of Costa
Rica during his fourth voyage along Caribbean Central America in the early
1500s. |
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Toucan Staff Head
Sinú
Colombia
5th-10th Century
The Cleveland Museum of Art Collection |
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Avian Staff Head
Sinú
Colombia
5th-10th Century
The Cleveland Museum of Art Collection |
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Tumbaga Deer Staff Head
150 a.C. - 1600
d.C
Majagual, Sucre
7,8 x 9,9 cm
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Gold Avian Staff Head
670 d.C.
4,5 x 2,7 x
10.5 cm
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Gold Caiman Staff Head
120 d.C.
Majagual
6.40 cm. x
15.40
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Avian Staff Head
Sinú
Colombia
5th-10th Century
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Toucan Staff Head
Sinú
Colombia
5th-10th Century
Columbian
Gold Museum
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Tumbaga Shaman Staff Head
900 d.C. – 1600
d.C.
Colosó, Sucre
6.4 cm. x 4.5
cm
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Sinu,
Colombia
Bird finial
Cast gold
H. 4 1/8" (10.5 cm); W. 2" (5.1 cm)
Dumbarton Oaks Collection |
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Gold staff head with cinnabar coloration 3 x 3 inches, 83 gm. |
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Sinu,
Colombia
Bird finial
Cast gold
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click photos
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enlarge |
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Nose Ornaments
Sinú
Colombia
5th-11th century
The Cleveland Museum of Art Collection |
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Nose Ornaments
Sinú
Colombia
5th-11th century
The Cleveland Museum of Art Collection |
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Gold Ear Ring
150 a.C. – 1600
d.C
Río Sinú , Córdoba
5,4 x 10,3
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Gold Ear Rings
150 a.C. - 1600 d.C.
San Marcos, Sucre
7,6 x 13,6 cm
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Gold Jaguar Pendant
350 d.C.
El Banco, Magdalena
7,5 x 12,2 cm
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Gold Fish Pendant
150 a.C. - 1600
d.C.
San Marcos, Sucre
19,2 x 6,5 x
3,3
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Gold Ear Ring
900 d.C. – 1600
d.C.
Coloso, Sucre
5.2 x 5.5 cm
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Sinu, Colombia
Pair of earrings
Cast gold
H. 1 1/2" (3.8 cm); W. 2 3/4" (7 cm)
Dumbarton Oaks Collection |
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SINU GOLD BEAD NECKLACE, ca. 500 AD.
graduated gold beads including a small bell, the 3 largest beads with
filigree. additional tiny gold beads hidden inside the larger beads 24".
39.68 gm |
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Gold Pectoral
150 a.C. - 1600
d.C.
Planeta Rica, Córdoba
20,8 x 14,9 cm
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Gold Codpiece
150 a.C. - 1600
d.C.
Planeta Rica, Córdoba
6,7 x 11,9 cm
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Gold Bracelets
150 a.C. - 1600
d.C.
Planeta Rica, Córdoba
6 x 4,1 cm
5,3 x 4,1 cm
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Gold Septum Nose Piece
150 a.C. - 1600
d.C.
Planeta Rica, Córdoba
3,7 x 18,3 cm
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Gold Pectoral
Columbian
Gold Museum |
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Sinu Tumbaga Ear Rings - Cast Gold |
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enlarge |
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Sinu Tumbaga Ear Rings - Cast Gold |
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Sinu Tumbaga Ear Rings - Cast Gold |
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SINU GOLD BEAD NECKLACE, ca. 500 AD.
The necklace composed of numerous graduated gold beads. 20". 14.87 gm
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Uraba & Choco Gold Objects |
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 There are countless
transport and trade routes in the Urabá region. Thousands of years ago, this
was the gateway through which hunters and gatherers first entered South
America. In the early years of the Christian era, the inhabitants of
northern Colombia and lower Central America were in contact with each other,
evidence of this being seen in their respective goldwork, such as spiral
breastplates.
The goldsmiths
of Urabá made ornaments that portrayed female figures, poporos and poporo
necks shaped like reeds and marrows, which recall the goldwork of the mid-Cauca
region. Those on the Pacific side in Chocó, meanwhile, where there were rich
alluvial deposits of gold, made schematic figures with sticks, feather
ornaments and masks, which represented shamans with their ritual attire |
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Cast Gold Pendant
c.a. 500 AD
Turbo, Antioquia
5,8 x 2,7 x
1,2
Museo de
Oro Colombia |
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Tumbaga Cast Pendant
c.a. 500 AD
San Pedro de Urabá, Antioquia
4,7 x 3,9 cm
Museo de
Oro Colombia |
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Gold Lime Flask
c.a. 500 AD
San Pedro de Urabá, Antioquia
14,3 x 6 cm
Museo de
Oro Colombia |
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Gold & Tumbaga Cast Pendant
200 AD
San Pedro de Urabá, Antioquia
11,4 x 3,4
Museo de
Oro Colombia |
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Gold Cast Pendant
c.a. 500 AD
La Playa, Acandí, Chocó
8,5 x 4,3 cm
Museo de
Oro Colombia |
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Beaten & Cast Gold Pectoral
c.a. 500 AD
San Pedro de Urabá, Antioquia
11,9 x 9 cm
Museo de
Oro Colombia |
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Gold Pendant
1,6 X 9,5 cmMuseo de
Oro Colombia |
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Gold Lime Flask
Museo de
Oro Colombia
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click photos
to
enlarge |
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Gold Pendant
Museo de
Oro Colombia
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Gold Laminate Pectoral
Museo de
Oro Colombia
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