Diadem,

200 BCE–200 CE

Four small holes, arranged like the corners of a rectangle, pierce the center of this object, revealing that it was once attached at these points to a substrate, likely a headwrap, with this silver ornament worn at the forehead. The holes frame a stylized face, a zigzagging stream of tears flowing from its protruding conical eyes. The vertical lines below the mouth likely represent a beard, indicating a male face, possibly a revered ancestor or a weather-associated deity. Two cones extending upward from the top of the head culminate in two smaller but similar faces. Another two faces, even smaller in size, flank the central face and form a triad from which abstracted and stylized arms extend outward on each side, palms upturned. One of roughly twenty known objects similar in shape, size, and surface design, this diadem is the only one made of silver; the rest are of sheet gold. It probably originated in the Sihuas Valley or the Camaná Valley, west of the Titicaca Basin, in southern Peru.