Saurian Warrior Gold Pendant

The word saurian means “lizard-like or reptile-like.” This would include anything that looked like a dinosaur or crocodile.

The art of casting elaborate designs in gold had emerged in Panama by the middle of the first millennium A.D. There were regional schools that excelled in the techniques of casting and beating gold. Gold became the primary symbol of power in this region, and high-status individuals wore numerous ornaments of this material. Many of these ornaments were placed during their burials. Pendants of this type functioned as emblems of status or as amulets.

At times, visual characteristics that are common to different types of animals - forked tongues, long crests and plumes, and clawed feet - were exaggerated in the artwork. In these cases, symbolic significance was more important than the accurate representation of the animals. Some scholars have proposed that certain animals and characteristics were emphasized to draw attention to the aggressive or warlike attributes of the wearer. If two animals were joined together in an amulet, it represented that the wearer had two sides to their nature. A light and a dark side, human and animal combined in one body.

See it at the Museum of Native American History in Bentonville!

Pendant: Twin Warriors | Kimbell Art Museum

The Art of Precolumbian Gold (wordpress.com)

Credit to Olivia Lee