Two grotesque figures with leaf-shaped, upturned noses and sharp, pointed teeth adorn this 3-inch-tall gold pendant recovered from a cache of gold objects buried perhaps a thousand years ago in western Panama. While their distinctive noses and teeth mimic some of the chief characteristics of Central American bats, the figures are otherwise quite human in form. Each is shown wearing a distinctive angular headdress, a wide-collar necklace and a loin cloth, while also holding a spear thrower in one hand and a paddle-shaped club in the other. The pendant, like much Central American art of the pre-Columbian period, appears […]
