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Metallurgy first began roughly 9000 years ago in the NearEast. Powerful, beautiful substances, for millennia, man has

 transformed metal into symbols to honour the gods.This pendant, made between 900-1600 A.D. is created from

tumbaga , an alloy made of gold and copper; when treated witha simple acid, the copper can be dissolved off the surfaceleaving a shiny layer of gold.

Descriptively labelled‘Duck Spoon’ (640 A.D).

 A pelican? A spoonbill?Pieces often depicted or

 featured animals, plantsand other objects from

nature. Perhaps this wasbecause in the cosmicvision of many AmericanIndian cultures, there wasno division betweenhumans and animals: allbeings had a spirit, andany difference was simplya matter of perspective (inwhich case, I woulddefinitely want to try out

 the perspective of a bird…). 

 A tumbaga earring (900-1600 A.D). Any guessesas to what animal adornseach end? Rudolph

 perhaps? The surface ofgold has rubbed awayrevealing the colour of the

alloy beneath.

 A tiny piece, the figurineitself was only an inch or soin height. The detail isincredible, intense peeringneeded to notice details(intricate headdress,hanging nose ringindividual toes…).

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Not sure of the function of this piece, but the mouse was socartoonish that it felt almost

 familiar (as if it had sprung from a childhood picture book oranimation). Hard to believe that

it is centuries old.

 Another tiny piece of amazing

intricacy. Reminded me of a stonestatue from San Agustín

 Archaeological Park entitled ‘DoubleSelf’ (an animal curved u p the back ofa human figure and over its head).Indigenous cultures chewed coca leaves,often mixed with lime (from crushedseashells), this piece was used to cleanlime containers or carry lime to a

 person’s mouth as they chewed the cocaleaves.

Gold mask made between 200 B.C. – 900 A.D.

If each being has a spirit,

 perspective andunderstanding of the worldis altered only by its

 physical counterpart: thebody. By creating certainadornments and decorating

 the body, a person’s view of the world could therefore bealtered. As people merged

with birds, snakes, or felineanimals, so theirunderstanding of thecosmos shifted anddeveloped.

 A breastplate depicting an adornedchieftain or priest.

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Chieftains were considered to be(literally) related to powerfulanimals, particularly felines.Spanish chroniclers wrote of the

 transformation of chieftains and priests into jaguars and other largecats during ceremonies, and thesebeliefs were reflected in objects suchas this pottery feline-man.

My depiction of a shamanic human-to-bird transformation(based on a gold piece)

 A shamanic metamorphosis

into a bird

“When the shaman is

in a trance he feels

that he is transformed

into a bird and makes

long journeys. Some

believe they get

transfigured into a

condor others into a

hummingbird of

heron ”

 

Museo del Oro The label of this piece hazily refers to it asan ‘ear flap cap’. Perhaps it was some part ofan earring? Definitely the depiction of abird of some kind, maybe a bird-person?

Sacrifice, buuut it isalso believed that somesocieties taught

 parrots to speak so that they couldsubstitute them forhumans in sacrificialceremonies).

 A vessel used to collect the blood of humansacrifice victims, after they were piercedwith arrows and bled to death (only two

 pre-Hispanic cultures carried out human

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Detail adorning the top of a breastplate. Lookclosely at the soldiers’ chosen form of transport… 

The Offering

Religion and gold, entangled together, deciphered byshamans. One of our final experiences of the museumexplored this aspect; along with several other people who hadreached that section of the museum, we entered a circular

room and a door slowly slid shut leaving us in totaldarkness.Music began to play, running water, drums, chanting

 filled the room. Lights began to flicker on and off aroundus. Sections of a curving display were illuminated, wherehundreds of pieces of gold were arranged.The use of a sound and light performance conveyed adeeper, more spiritual element to the gold pieces we had seen

 throughout the museum. Towards the end of the show, thebackground of the long display case began to glow blue, so

 that the room became a river of gold flowing around us.