Description:
Necklace of spherical wax beads with gold casings. It was discovered in the burial pit of tomb T7 at El Caño. The beads have two different diameters. It was found along with a butterfly form breastplate and two cuffs. The three artifacts are very similar to those that were worn by the principle individual of the tomb.
Similar offerings, miniature gold mortuary ensembles, were found in tombs T2 and T3. These offerings formed the last stage of the funeral rite of the Coclé, yet they were always the first deposits that the archaeologists of El Caño found when excavating a tomb. With the burial of a small boy in gold mortuary ensembles, or a substitute effigy that represented a boy dressed in gold mortuary ensembles, the Coclé symbolized the rebirth of the soul of the deceased in the afterlife and closed the ritual.