Bird-Shaped Nose Ornament
2018 © Maxim Tabachnik
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Bird-Shaped Nose Ornament

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This gold nose ornament (200 BC–1300 AD), crafted by the Yotoco culture in Colombia’s Cauca Valley, takes the form of a bird with dangling tubes that shimmered and rang with movement. Its avian shape and sound evoked divine flight and transformation, signifying elite status and ritual power in Yotoco spiritual life.