BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, May-JuNE 1979 . VoL. 27, Nos. 5-6 
ANCIENT GOLD PECTORALS FROM COLOMBIA: 
MUSHROOM EFFIGIES?! 
RICHARD EVANS SCHULTES AND ALEC BRIGHT 
One of the most fascinating and enigmatic archaeological 
objects in the Americas is a certain type of anthropomorphic 
gold pectoral found in southern Panama and, most especially, in 
Colombia. Called “Darien pectorals,” these ornaments are not 
confined to one region, although their greatest concentration 
seems to be in the Sinu country in northwestern Colombia, near 
the border with Panama’s Darien Province. They are found also 
in the Quimbaya region of Colombia, farther south. 
The dating of the Colombian gold objects and the styles of 
these objects are still rather indefinite, although archaeologists 
would generally place Sinu and Quimbaya goldwork in the late 
pre-Columbian centuries, most likely in the span of 1,000—1,500 
A.D., but with the possibility of beginnings as early as 500 A.D. 
Interestingly, one such “Darien pectoral” has been found as 
far north as Chichen Itza in Yucatan, where it undoubtedly 
found its way as an item of long-distance trade, along with other 
lower Central American and Colombian gold artifacts. The 
Maya centre of Chichen Itza—and its famed cenote of sacrifice, 
'This paper is published in English in the Botanical Museum Leaflets of Harvard 
University and in Spanish in the Boletin Museo del Oro (Banco de la Republica) Ano 3, 
Bogota, Colombia. 
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