Pre-Columbian, Central America, Costa Rica, ca. 500 to 1000 CE. An exceptional pendant comprised of a beautiful greenstone of a gray-green hue, and expertly string cut to depict two outward facing crocodilian heads. The thick piece has suspension holes drilled into the jaws of the crocs, their mouths are open and also pieced laterally through the throat and body. Their eyes and nostrils are formed via shallow circular bores, and the linear markings on their body are string cut, and the surface is highly polished. This spectacular pendant could have been suspended from a cord as a pectoral or other adornment and would have been a prized item of rank or prestige. Caimans and crocodiles are both found in Costa Rican rivers and coastal areas- seen as primordial predatory beings that represented strength and fertility. Size: 4.8" L x 0.75" W (12.2 cm x 1.9 cm)

In Costa Rica the Crocodilia order is represented by the spectacled caiman and the American crocodile- caimans and crocs were treated similarly in Pre-Columbian mythology. Iconographic references to crocodiles and other animals known to exhibit predatory, aggressive, and oftentimes dangerous behaviors were quite popular in the Pre-Columbian world to demonstrate strength and power. Caimans are also sometimes used as the bumpy tree trunk of the "World Tree," a cosmological symbol that was popular is Mesoamerican art.

Provenance: private Hidden Valley Lake, California, USA collection, purchased on May 18, 2021; ex-Auction Life, Loxahatchee, Florida, USA

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#170478

Intact and excellent with minor surface nicks and abrasions. Mineral and earthen deposits in recessed nostril eyes, and mouth areas.