Re: Bronze pendant, found at 18" Help IDing
Greetings Danimal,
What an interesting find! I must disagree with some of the opinions posted here, being metal does not make it automatically post-Columbus, the Americas have several copper working native cultures as well as the precious metals. If it is bronze, it is NOT Native American, as no Native American culture made bronze - however if this is genuine, it may be solid evidence of ancient visitors to America from the Old World.
At first glance it struck me as very Amazon in appearance, especially the object on the reverse which looks like the double-bitted axe for which Amazon warriors were famous. If the lady on the obverse is a lady, this only reinforces the Amazon appearance of the artifact. At the bottom right are some curious figures, one of which (the 3 looking device) looks like a Hippogrif, a mythical monster of ancient days which was believed to live in the oceans and appears on some ancient coins (especially Phoenician). The Axe or Bird figure on the reverse has a cross-hatched design incised into the metal, which could have been intended to mean feathers or could have been something very different. No bird, for instance, has wings like that. I would suggest that you take this to a university archaeology department and ask them to identify it for you. I have no beef against any dealer in antiquities, but then you are sort of rolling the dice - you cannot be sure that you are getting the whole answer or true value.
The other possibility is that this piece is what they call a "fantasy" piece, made in recent years (up to 200 years ago) for no purpose other than interesting jewelry etc and often incorporated mythical features and heros - and we have strong suggestion of Amazons (until recently believed to have been mythical) and what appears to be a Hippogrif (also mythical) and perhaps a Thunderbird. So not to dampen your hopes too much, but it is possible that this is one of those "Fantasy" pieces made for interesting jewelry.
The site you found it is interesting as well, as at least one Numidian coin dating to the first century BC was found in that area - and Numidia was a North African country - recall that Diodorus in telling the original history of the Amazons seems to place them in what is now S. America, then campaigning across Africa to Greece, then retreating into the vast steppes of Asia where recently tombs and DNA evidence has identified "real" Amazons.
Please keep me posted as to what you find about this artifact? I am a writer and working on a book on ancient explorers in the Americas, and always on the 'lookout' for new finds of ancient coins, jewelry etc in America that "shouldn't" be here. I would appreciate it very much, no matter what it turns out to be.
Thank you for posting your find, very interesting piece and based on the photographs alone, my dollar to the donut bet would be that it is not a fantasy piece. Just an opinion! I am jealous too - wish I could find something like that!
Roy ~ Oroblanco
