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Crayfish

The inventoried object appears to remain in an aggressive, tense posture. When placed on a flat surface, the sound ball causes the object to rock. The animals occur en masse on both coasts of Costa Rica to lay their eggs and were consumed in large quantities in pre-Columbian periods. In the Gran Coclé region, the crab theme appears above all on the polychrome pottery of the Conte group (700-900d.C.). In the Gran Nicoya region, the representation of the species is associated with the polychrome Papagayo pottery (800-1350d.C.). Snarskis (1981: 223, Fig. 258) depicts a similar object, but it did not serve as a bell. (Künne 2005)

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Data Provider
Ethnologisches Museum Show original at data provider

Cataloguing data

Object type
Gold pendant
Dimensions
Weight: 16,7 g
Height: 1,63 cm
Depth: 2,07 cm
Width: 3,12 cm
Material/Technique
Gold
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
IV Ca 34194

Provenance and sources

  • Production
    when
    700 - 1550
    where
    Costa Rica
    San José
    Pérez Zeledón
    El General
  • Change of legal title:
    Acquisition
    Description
    Purchase 1909
  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    American Archaeology

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
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