Silver pendant with representation of marine scene

In this silver pendant a group of supernatural figures are shown obtaining Spondylus. The two central figures, seen in profile, bear oars and ride a reed balsa; a third, mythical too, located by the bow of the vessel, could be the diver that searches for the shells. The design that frames the scene shows an anthropomorphic bird on the crest of a wave, but only its head can be distinguished with a headdress in the shape of a crescent moon. Around the border, the anthropomorphic wave motive is repeated. Several of the elements represented are common in the Mochica iconography, and the representation of the Spondylus seems to have appeared at the end of this culture, but the iconography that shows how it was obtained must have originated in the Lambayeque society. This would be an indicator of the participation of this culture in the mullu trade done from Ecuador towards Peru. Known as “food for the gods”, this bivalve was highly valued by pre-Columbian Andean societies. (CM)