Description
A good Tairona Pre Columbian gold amulet of a protective deity strung as a necklace with local clay beads. The gold alloy is also known as tumbaga and it was invented and used extensively by the ancient peoples of the Americas. This example was made by the Tairona peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Marta in ancient northern Colombia.
The goldsmiths of ancient Tairona were virtuoso craftsmen who produced some of the most intricate pieces of ancient jewelry that compare favorably with the jewelry produced anywhere in the Ancient Near East or Asia.
The wonderful example we offer here depicts a deity or a high priest (shaman) standing with outstretched hands, elbows extended and slightly clenched fists. Other than his large headgear he appears wearing only two metallic rings around his waist and similar double rings around his ankles. His very fanciful headdress is composed of long feathers harvested from tropical birds, all held together by a beaded headband which also supports side extensions with a double spiral motif, and which appear to extend below his earlobes.
This necklace was re-strung in 1937 with local earthen clay beads and was brought to the US before WW II.
For an extensive discussion of the process by which the tumbaga gold jewelry was produced see:
