Pre-Columbian Americas
Tairona culture, Nahuange, Colombia
Ornament in the Form of a Caiman
A.D. 1000–1530
Triton shell
H. 2 11/16 in. (6.7 cm)
Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection
Indiana University Art Museum, 78.11.3

This ornament is one of seven similar pieces excavated in 1922–23 and depicting the stylized head of a caiman or crocodile with drilled and incised details. Holes in the objects suggest that they may have been suspended as pendants or served as finials on staffs or sticks.