221 



from the two opposing heads brought close together to two simple projections 

 resembling the ear-tufts. In fact the two tufts characteristic also of parrot figures 

 in clay may be but the highly conventionalized symbolic head-dress composed of 

 alligator heads — a supposition strengthened by the fact that these same images 

 are decorated with alligator motives in color (see figs. 248-49). Hartman rightly 

 construed the meaning of the head-dress on a number of the celt-shaped amulets 

 from Nicoya as being two alligator heads united by a short common body. It 

 is interesting to note that tiny anthropomorphic and ornithomorphic celt-shaped 

 amulets of gold have been found in Colombia. The Field Museum, Chicago, 

 possesses a number of these, although no single specimen that I have seen com- 

 bines both human and avian characters. 



The gem of the Heye collection, representing a creature part human and part 

 jaguar, presumably a jaguar-god, is reproduced in figure 374. The central feature 

 is the human body surmounted 

 by the jaguar's head. The hands 

 are replaced by jaguar heads. 

 There is an extra pair of arms 

 attached to the sides of the body, 

 which also terminate in jaguar 

 heads. Finally, there are bars 

 projecting laterally from the ankles 

 that end in jaguar heads, the bars 

 themselves serving as bodies for 

 these. The loin-band is composed 

 of the bodies of two snakes. As 

 in the case of the crab-god, the 

 human body is so constructed as 

 to form a bell or rattle, the metal 

 ball within being of about the same 

 grade of alloy as the figure itself. 

 The entire group is set in a square 

 frame of plaited work, on the outer 

 margin of which and at the back 

 is attached a series of spirals. This 

 fine specimen, which was collec- 

 ted by Mr. Utley at Pueblo Viejo, should be compared with the jaguar deity as 

 exemplified in Chiriquian ceramic art (see PI. XLI, and text-fig. 244). 



The Keith collection of gold ornaments includes a number of jaguar-gods. The 

 one reproduced in figure 375 is from the Huacal de los Reyes, Rio General, Costa 

 Rica. The bars at the head and feet are each altered by a row of triangular 

 perforations, while the four alligator heads are so highly conventionalized as to 

 become simply curved extensions of the flattened bars. There is no differentiation 

 of jaws, teeth and eyes. In fact, each bar with its two curved extensions is a 

 multiple alligator motive — a common body with a head at each end, the triangular 

 perforations representing alligator spines or scale groups. The feet and hands of 

 this image are represented by very fine wires. The right foot had been broken 



Fig. 374. — Gold image presumably of the jaguar-god. 

 collection. */' 



