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Gold, Language of the Gods | |
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This small gold figure of a man holding a rattle comes from the part of Central America now known as Costa Rica. Costa Rica, which means “rich coast” in Spanish, was named for the quantities of gold the early Spanish explorers imagined they would find there. The people of the region lived in small villages rather than in splendid cities like those built by the Aztecs of Mexico or the Incas of Peru. Clusters of villages were governed by local chiefs, who protected their chiefdoms through ritual ceremonies to control supernatural forces. Gold, pure and gleaming, was thought to be a channel for spiritual energy. But gold in itself held little value until it was crafted into meaningful shapes. Common subjects appear to have been figures with drums, rattles, or snakes; figures with human bodies and animal heads; and animals such as birds, frogs, monkeys, and alligators. Gold objects worn by a chief symbolized his power with the gods. Other high-ranking people wore gold as a sign of their status in society. The Spaniards seized much of the gold of the great Aztec and Incan empires and melted it down for Spain’s royal treasury. In Central America, however, gold objects were often buried with chiefs or hidden for the gods, and so escaped the invaders. But the people of Central America, like their neighbors to the north and south, suffered from diseases brought to the continent by Europeans. As populations dwindled and lifestyles changed, the exact meanings of the human and animal forms shaped from gold were lost. |
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September 2005
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