Muisca El Dorado Ritual Raft
2018 © Maxim Tabachnik
Stylized Tairona Bird PendantPectoral with Face and Ornamental DiscsNencatacoa Ritual Gold MaskTierradentro Funerary MaskRitual Diadem with Mythic FigureAvian Pendants in FlightFunerary MaskQuimbaya Gold Funerary MasksZenú Gold Nose OrnamentsBird-Shaped Staff FinialMuisca Elite Funerary AdornmentsHuman-Face Pectoral OrnamentFemale Chieftain with OrnamentsMalagana Gold Ritual OrnamentMuisca Gold Offering FigureGold Pendant with Human FigureMuisca TunjosMuisca TunjosMuisca Ceremonial SceptersZenú Pendant with HeaddressTairona Winged Pendant FigureSounding Pectoral OrnamentQuimbaya Gold Disc with Human FaceMuisca Tumbaga Pectoral with Figures and BirdsMuisca Gold Ceremonial PectoralBat-Shaped Ear PendantTolima Culture Gold BreastplateZoomorphic Ear PendantBird-Shaped Nose OrnamentShaman–Bat Transformation PendantGeometric Pectoral OrnamentMuisca Gold Miniature FiguresMuisca Ritual TunjosBird-Shaped Copper PendantMuisca Gold Miniature FiguresSinú Ceremonial Gold AttireQuimbaya PoporoQuimbaya Ceremonial Breastplate with WarriorsMantilla and Hair Comb of a Bucaramanga LadySpinning Ritual DiscMuisca Tunjos Ritual OfferingsGold Ear SpoolsSea Snail ShellAnthropo-Zoomorphic PendantShamanic Pectoral with Nose RingMuisca El Dorado Ritual RaftFigure with Raised ArmsZenú Crocodile AmuletFish Ornament and HookTolima Miniature Human FiguresOrnaments of a Calima CaciqueZenú Double-Spiral PectoralMuisca Ritual Crown with DanglesLizard AmuletQuimbaya Gold Pectoral with Shamanic FigureRitual Necklace with Double Beads

Muisca El Dorado Ritual Raft

711
This gold-silver-copper votive piece (1200–1500) shows a raft with a central cacique and twelve attendants arranged in openwork form. It was created with the lost-wax method (casting from a wax model that melts away during firing). The artifact was recovered from a cave near Pasca and relates to offerings made at Lake Guatavita. Its imagery indicates ideas of sacred authority, ritual wealth, and ceremonial renewal in Muisca tradition.