Archaeology Magazine - March 1956 - 36

were the two superimposed gorgets seen in Figure 1,
below. The smaller one on top is made from the leg or
wing bones of gulls. The other is of orange and white
shell beads. We also illustrate (Figure 1, above) another
gorget, from a different grave, with purple fringe, a
purple band on the top and an orange band at the base.
The beads had been strung on strands of human hair. The
Hartes carefully restrung them in situ, a feat of which
they should be proud. Comparable bead gorgets, worn
high on the chest, are still used by the San Bias Indians
on the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus. The Guaymi Indians of western Panama also still wear bead gorgets but
of a different shape. On the child's chest there were three
gold plaques (Figure 2), each pierced by two pairs of
holes. This suggests that they were sewn on the clothing
rather than suspended from the neck. The one on the
right is undecorated except for a raised rim. Another
(extreme left) has an embossed circle surrounded by a
zigzag motif which probably symbolizes crocodile scales.
The third plaque (Figure 2, center) is adorned in a
style well known in the Province of Codé, Panama. Decoration typically consists of grotesque human and animal
forms or an infinite variety of scroll patterns which seem
to be symbolic rather than abstract in concept. This
Venado Beach specimen probably is a trade piece, for it
recalls the embossed gold breastplates found at the Sitio
Conte about one hundred miles to the west. The subject
portrayed is a composite anthropomorphic monster. The
head, shaped like a barbed arrow point, is of a form associated with serpents and sometimes turtles on Codé
polychrome pottery, but in Codé the mouth normally
would be placed above the eyes, and the two curling
streamers should be twin tongues (Figure 3). There is
no body below the neck and shoulders, but the arms and
legs are human except that the fingers and big toes are
Replacedby crocodile claws.
Flanking the knees of the child in the grave was a
pair of small animals with curling tails, fat bellies and
long snouts. Somewhat similar gold figures from Sitio
Conte were thought to represent crocodiles. On the basis
of the more detailed specimen in Figure 4, however, it is

now possible to identify "themas sea horses, an art motif
we had not previously encountered in the New World.
The sea horses are linked by a band fringed with symbolic crocodile scales. This presumably is a belt. On
Codé anthropomorphic figures, when the body is depicted, similar belts are shown with flaring ends which
are attached to small animal figures, usually crocodiles.In
this case, as there is no body represented, the belt motif
appears as an independent unit so introduced that it
balances the design as a whole.
In the art of Codé, especiallyin pottery and hammered
gold, there is a wealth of forgotten symbolism which we
can only call monstrous because it is based on combinations of brute forms which never appear in nature.
Among these are snakes with two legs, birds with saurian
claws, men with crocodile heads, etc. Similar compound
concepts in many guises are found all over the world but
in Codé art, apart from complex geometric designs, there
is rarely any other expression of beauty or religious belief.
On the child's forehead, in the grave we are discussing,
was found the extraordinary object shown in Figure 5.
It has a loop for suspension but, from the position in
which it was discovered, it seems that it was sewn to a
head band. Again we are dealing with a composite figure
with both human and animal attributes. At the top there
is a human head attached to human shoulders and arms.
Each hand holds a short bar with two gold danglers. The
body, which rather suggests a well fed snake, terminates
in a bird's head with two small wings and projecting
eyes like a crab's. This piece at first glance seems to have
been built up by soldering wires together. Actually, it was
modeled in wax over a clay core and- except for the
danglers- cast in a single flow of metal. At the back
there is a rectangular slot through which the core was
extracted. Microscopic examination of sections of comparable pieces reveals the continuous grain structure.
In an adjacent grave Lt. Col. Lee E. Montgomery
found two comparable specimens, both representing
frogs. The example in Figure 6 is no less intricate in design than the piece just considered, but the casting was
less successful. Perhaps the wax model had partly melted,
FIGURES
5BYNEVILLE
A.HARTE;
1,2AND
4BYHARRY
FIGURE
DUNN;
FIGURES
6AND
7BYLT.COL.
LEEE MONTGOMERY

Archaeology Magazine - March 1956

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - March 1956