Crocodile Pendant

1000–1550

Crocodile Pendant, 1000–1550. Panama, Azuero Peninsula, Parita style, 11th-16th century. Cast gold, modern greenstone; overall: 6.5 x 5.5 x 4.4 cm (2 9/16 x 2 3/16 x 1 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.160 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. The greenstone replaced a piece of carved whale bone that was once improperly paired with the pendant.