where such gold objects were thrown as offerings—was particu- 
larly active between 1,000 and 1,250 A.D. This, however, does 
not help in placing the manufacturing date of the object in ques- 
tion, as many of the other objects found in the Chichen Itza 
cenote were clearly heirloom pieces (Willey, pers. comm.). 
Although they vary slightly, these ornaments all follow a gen- 
eral plan. They are anthropomorphic, usually highly stylized. 
The most prominent feature is the pair of dome-shaped or 
rounded objects arranged side by side on the head. Lateral wing- 
like ornaments with spiral decorations made up of double spirals 
almost invariably frame the head of the pectoral. A flat face or 
mask, sometimes more or less natural but usually with complex 
filigree ornamentation, is discernible. Arms and hands hold two 
sticks or wands usually in an inverted V-shape. A frog or toad, 
sometimes very natural but usually extremely stylized, is almost 
always present immediately beneath the face: that is, on the 
chest. 
These pectorals have been divided into two general types: 
“Darien pectorals” and “Darien-related pectorals.” The former 
are the more typical, with most of the principal diagnostic fea- 
tures; the latter have very stylistic variations and fewer of the 
main diagnostic features, diverting in one or several ways from 
the basic morphological pattern of the Darien type. 
Although a few specimens are to be found in private collec- 
tions and in several museums, the greatest concentration of these 
gold pectorals is preserved in the Museo del Oro in Bogota, 
Colombia. Thanks to the director, Dr. Luis Duque Gomez, we 
have had the opportunity of examining in great detail the Muse- 
um’s collection of more than 150 specimens and of conferring 
with Mrs. Ana Maria Falchetti de Saenz, whose meticulous 
research is embodied in her thesis entitled The Goldwork of the 
Sinu Region, (Northern) Colombia (Falchetti-Saenz, 1976). 
Because of the two dome-like objects on the head, these pec- 
torals have popularly been called “telephone-bell gods.” This 
term originated apparently from the description given by Dr. 
Jose Perez de Barrada in 1954, when he mentioned “the semi- 
spherical buttons to which I have referred that remind one of the 
bells of old fashioned telephones or of a pair of mushrooms” 
(Perez, 1954). 
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