224 



A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



than ordinary tin-foil. The margin is plain and near each of the four rounded 

 corners is a perforation, the puncture having been made from the front ; one of 

 these has been almost completely obliterated by a break, but the traces of it are 

 distinct enough to prove its existence. It is not likely therefore that this piece 

 was worn as a breast ornament suspended from the neck, but rather as a mask. 

 As it is much too small to cover an adult face, it may have served to cover the 

 face of an idol. The human features eyes, nose and mouth are slightly 

 raised by repoussage. There are also three elongated lumps produced in the same 

 way. One of these is placed horizontally on the forehead and in line with the 

 nose and mouth ; the other two are paired and placed vertically under the eyes 

 and a little above the level of the mouth. They may possibly represent tattooing. 

 A gold mask from Agua Caliente, near Cartago, Costa Rica, marked in almost 

 the same manner has been figured by Uhle as belonging to the Troyo collection 



of the National Museum at San Jose. 

 Similar gold masks were found by 

 Schliemann on the faces of the dead 

 in certain tombs of Mycenae. 



Dr. George F. Kunz 1 describes a 

 somewhat similar " plaque ornament " 

 that was found on the banks of the 

 Mingindo river, a tributary of the 

 Atrato, in the state of Cauca, United 

 States of Colombia. This however is 

 circular and the mask-like characters 

 are not so pronounced. There are but 

 two perforations, their position being 

 in the upper part between the eyes, 

 suggesting that the piece was used as 

 a breast ornament. It belongs to Mr. 

 S. L. M. Barlow, who states that a 



banker of South America had purchased a hundred of these shield-shaped orna- 

 ments simply for their bullion value. They were melted down, no description of 

 them having been kept. The same author 2 describes a circular gold plaque 

 (from a Florida mound), the surface of which is decorated with raised work 

 resembling beads and pendants. These are near the margin, while in the center 

 is a circular raised portion. This piece is not perforated. 



Bollaert mentions that Messrs. Pixley and Company of London allowed him 

 (about 1860) to examine five of their circular gold plates from Chiriqui. The 

 largest was TU inches in diameter and had seven circular embossments. In des- 

 cribing the voyage of Columbus along Costa Rica and Veragua, Irving 3 says : " Here, 

 for the first time on the coast, the Spaniards met with specimens of pure gold, the 

 natives wearing large plates of it suspended round their necks by cotton cords." 



1 American antiquarian, Sept., 1887. 



2 Op. cit., July, 1887. 



3 Life and voyages of Christopher Columbus, II, 314, 1892. 



Fig. 378. Rare gold mask representing the human face. */> 



