Panama, Azuero Peninsula, Parita style, 11th-16th century / 1000–1550
Crocodile Pendant
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Crocodile Pendant as metalwork (Panama, Azuero Peninsula, Parita style, 11th-16th century · 1000–1550).
The greenstone replaced a piece of carved whale bone that was once improperly paired with the pendant.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this metalwork as cast gold, modern greenstone.
The museum's collection notes: Of great importance in ancient Panama were beings that combined crocodile features, especially the mouth, with lizard traits, such as the iguana’s head crest. This example also has a back-swept nose, perhaps that of the leaf-nosed bat. The greenstone is a modern replacement for a stone or shell that once completed the crocodile’s body.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtCrocodile PendantOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.