Iximche Jaguar Heads Necklace

Gold reached the Maya world late, only around AD 800, spreading north by trade from Colombia and Central America, so worked gold stayed comparatively rare in the region and was often the imported copper-gold alloy called tumbaga. A necklace like this one advertised long-distance, cosmopolitan connections as much as wealth. An authentic Postclassic piece (c. 950 to 1524 CE), its ten cast jaguar heads and some forty gold beads (about 27 centimeters) were found in an elite burial at Iximché in Chimaltenango, Guatemala, and are held today in the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología in Guatemala City (MUNAE 9097).