A Costa Rican Jadeite Bird-Celt Pendant, Early Classic Period, ca. 100 - 600 CE Sculpture - Architectural Carved from a single piece

Carved from a single piece of banded alabaster

’ This is no doubt because Dionysos is credited with giving man the gift of wine

strongly evokes associations with feminine divinity

2001 Kintore Kiwirrkura

William Bradford Press

A Costa Rican Jadeite Bird-Celt Pendant, Early Classic Period, ca. 100 - 600 CE Sculpture - Architectural Carved from a single pieceMany bird form pendants of Costa Rica feature a lower section shaped like a workaday celt or ax. The stone celt of teardrop shape was the common working tool in the ancient Americas, and in some instances the shape itself took on greater, perhaps even sacred, significance. Finely carved in translucent blue green jadeite, the lower part of this pendant is an example of how the celt shape was integrated into prized personal ornaments. At the top of the