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Harvard archaeologists excavated this and seven other ornaments from several burials at Sitio Conte, a cemetery famous for its lavish graves of powerful chieftains. The young man buried in Grave 26 was such a chief. His status was stunningly memorialized by 21 human companions and 475 objects, many of them personal ornaments made of gold, including this large chest plaque and a rod-shaped ear ornament. The creature on the chest plaque, found close to the chief’s body, has reptile claws and perhaps the head crest of an iguana. Its meaning is unknown but perhaps, as in later periods, reptilian imagery and the warm gleam of gold linked rulers with the sun’s creative force.

Page data

Page
1
Source index
0
Type
photo
Media ID
f7513951bb5b3537
Size
unknown

Document data

ID
131817
Core
obj
Type
object
DTO data
{
    "id": "131817",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Ornament from Sitio Conte: Small Plaque",
    "description": "Harvard archaeologists excavated this and seven other ornaments from several burials at Sitio Conte, a cemetery famous for its lavish graves of powerful chieftains. The young man buried in Grave 26 was such a chief. His status was stunningly memorialized by 21 human companions and 475 objects, many of them personal ornaments made of gold, including this large chest plaque and a rod-shaped ear ornament. The creature on the chest plaque, found close to the chief’s body, has reptile claws and perhaps the head crest of an iguana. Its meaning is unknown but perhaps, as in later periods, reptilian imagery and the warm gleam of gold linked rulers with the sun’s creative force.",
    "date": "c. 400–500",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1954.390",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60778918"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.390/1954.390_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.390/1954.390_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.390/1954.390_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 10.5 x 11.3 cm (4 1/8 x 4 7/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Panama, Conte style, 5th - 10th century"
    ],
    "accession": "1954.39"
}

Context sent to Scholar

Document identity
{
    "localId": "131817",
    "label": "Ornament from Sitio Conte: Small Plaque",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
    "id": "131817",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Ornament from Sitio Conte: Small Plaque",
    "description": "Harvard archaeologists excavated this and seven other ornaments from several burials at Sitio Conte, a cemetery famous for its lavish graves of powerful chieftains. The young man buried in Grave 26 was such a chief. His status was stunningly memorialized by 21 human companions and 475 objects, many of them personal ornaments made of gold, including this large chest plaque and a rod-shaped ear ornament. The creature on the chest plaque, found close to the chief’s body, has reptile claws and perhaps the head crest of an iguana. Its meaning is unknown but perhaps, as in later periods, reptilian imagery and the warm gleam of gold linked rulers with the sun’s creative force.",
    "date": "c. 400–500",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1954.390",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60778918"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.390/1954.390_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.390/1954.390_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.390/1954.390_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 10.5 x 11.3 cm (4 1/8 x 4 7/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Panama, Conte style, 5th - 10th century"
    ],
    "accession": "1954.39"
}
Document source extras
{
    "tec": "hammered gold",
    "tombstone": "Ornament from Sitio Conte: Small Plaque, c. 400–500. Panama, Conte style, 5th - 10th century. Hammered gold; overall: 10.5 x 11.3 cm (4 1/8 x 4 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1954.390",
    "collection": "AA - Intermediate Region",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 336"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1954.390",
    "creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 06:47:42.265000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.390/1954.390_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 131817,
    "dept": "Art of the Americas",
    "coll": "AA - Intermediate Region",
    "med": "hammered gold",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}
Page context
{
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    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.390/1954.390_web.jpg",
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