Pre-Columbian Tairona pectoral in the shape of a bird

The bird depicted has a shrunken body, wings attached to the body and in its talons a snake with two heads, like those worn by the caciques around their waists. This type of pectoral ornamentation covered the chest of a prominent figure in Tairona society (located in present-day Colombia) before the arrival of Europeans at the end of the 15th century. The representation of birds, and of gold in the case of caciques, was extremely common. Goldsmithing spread throughout pre-Columbian America not as a representation of wealth (as the Europeans saw it) but as a symbol of sacred power. On the other hand, the representation of birds had a cosmological meaning in various Amerindian societies of the past. In a cosmos of overlapping levels according to their tradition, birds flew to the upper levels to obtain a series of powers linked to the solar and the masculine, while snakes are related to the world below and to feminine and humid powers.

Collection: Images

Project: 11. Science and culture as representation in Europe.

Chronology: XVI, XVII

Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate

Link: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/pectoral-en-forma-de-ave-sierra-nevada-de-santa-marta-periodo-tairona/9wHikwHcUYxV3A

Resource type: Image

Format: old pectoral cast in lost wax and hammered in gold

Source: Google Arts & Culture

Language: Spanish

Date: 900-1600

Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)