Collection online

ornament

• Object type

  • ornament

• Museum number

  Am,+.7820

• Description

  Axe-shaped ornament made of gold.

• Date

  • 1st century - 3rd century (McEwan 2009)

• Findspot

  • Excavated/Findspot: Peru
  • (Americas,South America,Peru)

• Materials

  • gold

• Dimensions

  • Height: 19.8 centimetres
  • Width: 25.5 centimetres
  • Depth: 25.5 centimetres
  • Depth: 1.8 centimetres

• Curator's comments

  <b>McEwan 2009, p.22

  Gold Diadem with embossed face. Siguas culture, Peru, 1st-3rd century AD </b>

  The central image on this object is a disembodied head with large round eyes and outstretched arms. Beneath the mouth, a pattern of parallell vertical embellishments may represent a beard, and a continuous row of embossed circles - possibly dropletes of water - runs around the outer edge. Other similar figures have tear-lines visible on their cheeks and could be very early manifestations of the figure still described today in popular lore as the Andean Thunder God Tunupa - a celestial deity who controls the weather. The perforations visible around the head suggest that the object was sewn on to a textile backing and worn as a diadem affixed to a turban or headdress. They may have been used by rules to proclaim their supernatural powers and may also have adorned the mummy bundles of deified ancestors.

  More 

• Bibliography

  • McEwan 2000 Figs. 1.1, 1.2 (Includes line drawing)
  • McEwan 2009 p. 22

• Location

  Not on display

• Exhibition history

  Exhibited:
  2003 15 Dec-2009 Jun, BM, 'Living and Dying'
  2016 26 Jan-30 Oct, Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, Treasures: Adventures in Archaeology

• Acquisition name

  • Purchased from: F M Schwartz

• Acquisition date

  1878

• Department

  Africa, Oceania & the Americas

• Registration number

  Am,+.7820

• Additional IDs

  • Am1878C2.7820 (old CDMS no.)